A shower chair or commode is a seat made for bathtubs or showers for people with limited mobility. The most common type is much like a regular plastic garden chair with four legs, prices begin at $30. When it comes to spinal cord injury, paraplegics mostly use a shower chair with large back wheels so they can manually propel themselves around and apply the brakes. A basic manual shower chair cost around $1000.00 which like most “medical” equipment seems grossly overpriced.
High level quadriplegics typically use a similar shower chair to paraplegics only it may have four castor wheels and high back rest with padded seat and padded armrests. Having severely compromised mobility leaves quadriplegics susceptible to pressure marks from un-padded seats and stainless steel or aluminium tubing. Additionally as many quads are vulnerable to bouts of autonomic dysreflexia (a condition of extreme low or high blood pressure often brought on by sudden temperature changes) the shower chair may have a headrest and be capable of tilting backwards.
A spinal cord injury makes equipment like shower chairs a necessity for day-to-day living. It’s disappointing that the construction simple enough costs exorbitant amounts of money. A shopping trolley with four castor wheels uses much more steel in its construction and only costs $200.00. A four castor padded folding tilt-able shower chair can cost in excess of $4000.00. If you are a beach loving quadriplegic mountain climber you will be out of pocket $10,000 for three basic impractical manual wheelchairs. Add a decent hoist, bed, vehicle and home modifications after hospital medical bills and resuming your prior lifestyle after acute spinal cord injury becomes nothing more than a wish for the majority.
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