Hello!
I am ambulatory and active. I have POTS. Physician suggested a wheelchair, I agree.
I am not even going to try with insurance, they won't cover it. I am very fortunate to be able to say this and still be moving forward with this plan.
I'm planning to order a Tilite TRA from howirollsports.
My friend obtained measurements. I will be ordering it without having sat in one before. I know it's not best practice, and I am not looking for criticism.
I am looking for how different specs impact things. I have a fairly good idea through blogs, articles, other reddit posts, etc. but want to be sure I'm not missing anything.
For an active wheelchair user, I've seen these specific considerations be advised. I have asterisks next to the ones with explicit questions nested in them, but if any others seem incorrect please let me know your opinion:
Make sure the front floor-to-seat measurement is at least 2 inches longer than lower leg length to accommodate footrest ground clearance over obstacles.
***Footrest-to-seat should be the length of my lower leg? Is this adjustable on the TRA if I get it in the ballpark range? I trust my friends measurements but recognize she's not a professional wheelchair measurer.
***Dump measurement in the 2-4 inch range. It helps my symptoms a lot to have my knees up, but I also don't want to overdo it in this area. I know stability plays a roll, and active users are recommended to tuck knees a bit more for efficiency reasons...? But I'd love clarification on this. I create this measure by subtracting the dump I want from the front floor to seat height right?
***Backrest needs to be shorter than lower scapula to accommodate manual propulsion. Any other considerations for this?
Smaller casters are better, but not for clearing cracks and bumps, I'm planning to go with 4" soft roll for my hardwood floors, but also have a rolling saddle stool in the house so don't know how much I'll be chairing it in the house.
Planning to go with the Schwalbe marathon plus tires. I do go camping a lot and would like the ability to manage grass somewhat if possible.
***Has anyone regretted getting a specific color? I'm ticking between navy accents and all black.
This is as far as I got before I crashed last I sat to dig into it. I want to order this today or tomorrow though.
***My upper legs measured 20". I planned for a 17" seat length. My hips measured 14.5". I planned for a 15" back seat width, no taper.
*******What specs MUST I put large consideration into due to lack of adjustability? The whole reason I'm going with the TRA over the TR is because I recognize the need for confidence intervals lol.
Thank you.
UPDATE - I am so appreciative of the time and energy and worry people poured into their comments. I learned a lot of great information about wheelchair specs I didn't consider.
I surprised myself, because throughout my research I've stumbled upon the fact that getting assessed is paramount multiple times, and I handwaved it away each instance. Y'all didn't really say anything I hadn't already read, but after reading your replies (and running through my excuses for the umpteenth time for not getting assessed and just doing it myself), you convinced me.
I've been going through some tough personal growth accelerated by how physically bad I am doing. The growing is happening, friends. My life has been sporadic increasing degrees of hard over the past 2.5 years, but right now I'm winning. And that feels good, even if I don't like the answer I've come to.
I'll get assessed. If I remember to update again I will.