How To Find The Strongest and Lightest Wheelchair Ramps


Care: Find Strongest, Lightest Wheelchair Ramps

There are many types of wheelchair ramps available... including temporary and permanent ones. There are ones made of wood and ones made of steel or aluminum. In this article, we're going to talk about a different kind of ramp...a ramp that is completely portable.

So many mobility products are made to be ultra-portable. Wheelchairs and scooters can be quickly and easily disassembled and will fit into the trunk of a car. Or there are the highly convenient hitch attachments that allow scooter users to lift their scooter off the ground and drive around with it nearby, fully assembled and ready for their convenience. Unfortunately, ramps have not followed suit as closely as other mobility products. Ramps tend to be large, heavy, unwieldy, and often permanent. There are two reasons for this:

1. The slope of the ramp needs to be a certain ratio of the height...which means the higher the step you want to ascend, the longer your ramp needs to be. This can increase the weight of the ramp dramatically and longer ramps are, of course, less portable.

2. The material of a ramp needs to withstand a fair amount of weight. While the materials that make up a wheel chair are fairly light weight, when you combine them together with the user, a battery and motor (in the case of an electric wheelchair), or a second person to push the wheelchair up the ramp... that can be a lot of weight. Many wheelchair ramps have to be rated for a MINIMUM of a 500 pounds and many try to build beyond the minimum!

So, between the size of the ramp and the material necessary to hold the weight, a ramp is not easily portable. But slowly, efforts are being made to improve the portability of wheelchair ramps so that they can carried with the wheelchair user. There are a few kinds:

...A suitcase ramp is the most well known. When it folds up, it is about the size of a suitcase but when it is unfolded, it allows a rise of about 1 - 2 steps (depending on the manufacturer). Unfortunately, they are still fairly large, weighing about 41 pounds. They might be found to be more portable in a scooter rather than in a wheelchair.

...A rolling ramp. These are unusual looking ramps. They are fairly light in weight and they roll in one direction. When you want to use them, you unroll them on a flat surface and flip them over and the ramp is very strong. These ramps are often stronger than the suitcase ramp, but they can also be more expensive. As well, they are very portable but again are probably more portable on a scooter than on a wheelchair.

...A home made ramp. Home made ramps are not always recommended because they don't have a weighted and tested strength, they are often just made of wood, and they can be put on slopes that are not advisable. Still, many wheelchair users use them because they are very slim to carry around, fairly lightweight, and easy to use.

Articles about lightweight and strong wheelchair rampswheelchairs, mobility scooters, adjustable beds, walkers and rollators.

Hot Topics In Care

    How To Use Progesterone Cream To Stop Menopausal Symptoms

    Progesterone cream is used to treat progesterone deficiency, which can cause you to experience swollen breasts, fibrocystic breasts, low thyroid, water retention, weight gain, depression and loss of l...

    Remedies For Colic

    Any parent will tell you that colic is one of the most excruciating experiences of early parenthood. The baby cries as if in dire pain, and there just seems to be nothing for a parent to do. A baby is...

    Current Health Care Issue: Is Sodium Benzoate in Sodas Bad News?

    In May, a new scare, one of many current health care issues in the news, erupted over soft drinks because of evidence that an ingredient known as sodium benzoate may cause serious cell damage. The con...

    Selecting From A Wide Variety Of Athletes Foot Product

    For somebody who suffers from athlete's foot, there is nothing more frustrating and annoying problem when the itchiness begins.
    To offer relief and treatment to people who are suffering from this ...

    Baby Monitors - Which One To Choose

    You go to the store to purchase a baby monitor. All you know is that you want another way to ensure your baby's safety and having baby monitors will help you to do that. However, you start down the ai...

    Natural Health Training - Give Your Body The Care It Needs

    Natural health training will teach you how to harness those vital energy boosts that are essential for starting the process of feeling good about yourself. It is a common fact that when people start t...

    What To Do To Cure Athletes Foot

    Athlete's foot is one of the most common feet problems in the country. And despite being named after an athlete, this fungal infection can actually affect everyone. Sportsmen, office people, old peopl...

    Menopause Weight Gain - What Causes It and What You Can Do About It

    Nearly every women struggles with weight gain during perimenopause and menopause. It's not usual to put on 10 to 15 pounds without any changes in your caloric intake or activity level. Very few middle...

    Baby Toys: The Best Choices for Babys Development

    Toys do more than just keep babies entertained C theyre extremely important for their mental, physical, intellectual and social development. They are the tools that teach baby about their world and t...

    Acne and Natural Skin Care

    A basic description of acne would be that acne is a systemic inflammatory disease that affects the skin. But what causes acne? There are several factors that may cause acne and they are:

    -- hormo...

    Enhancing Your Breasts Naturally

    Enhancing Your Breasts Naturally

    You may have read ads regarding natural breast enhancement. Maybe you're looking for options to surgical breast enhancements. If you want to enhance your breasts wi...

    Long Term Care Options In Florida

    In the state of Florida, almost one quarter of the residents are over the age of 60. Quality long-term care is very important for many of these older Floridians. The Florida Agency of Health Care Admi...

Most Recent Care Supplements

Interesting Today:

Most Recent Care Blogs:

Releated to Care:

Care Links:

Care Care Rss feeds.