Wheelchair Ramps for Stairs
Written for Walgreens.com
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Making the transition from walking to using a wheelchair or scooter can be challenging. Normal and every-day actions that once seemed effortless, such as walking up stairs, can suddenly be impossible to accomplish. Home renovations to accommodate your wheelchair or scooter can be expensive and time consuming, as well as stressful. Luckily, there is a much cheaper alternative to renovating your house. You can purchase a wheelchair ramp for stairs.
A wheelchair ramp for stairs can have many uses. It’s important to identify which uses are the most important for you. Many people use a wheelchair ramp on the exterior stairs leading to their front or back entry doors. Others use a wheelchair ramp on the steps from their garage into their home. Other ideas include retrofitting the stairs inside of your house, as well as bridging the gap of a sunken living room. At times, you might travel with your wheelchair ramp, bringing it along on visits to friends and family members whose homes have stairs that impair navigation with a wheelchair or scooter.
Once you know how and where you want to use a wheelchair ramp, there are a couple of more things to consider in choosing the perfect wheelchair ramp for you. One thing to consider is the level of incline that your wheelchair or scooter can handle. This information can be found in your user’s manual, and will determine how long your wheelchair ramp needs to be. You may need a longer or shorter wheelchair ramp depending on the vertical height you want to climb and the amount of floor space you have to do so. Another consideration is the width of your wheelchair or scooter. When choosing a wheelchair ramp, you want one that is not only wide enough for you and your machine, but one that will also provide a margin of safety on either side of your wheels.
A wheelchair ramp for stairs can do more than safely bridge the height difference between one floor and another. It can also provide you with more independence and the freedom of mobility at a cost that is significantly lower than renovating your home. Now that’s a change you can look forward to.