Wheelchair and powerchair innovations for an open world

Welcome

As someone who has used mobility devices my entire life (and a wheelchair for a not insignificant amount of that), I am intimately aware of both the trials and challenges faced during their use but also the benefits and independence doing so instils in one's heart.

Growing up I had the privilege of seeing the world develop for the better, in terms of disability activism and accessibility awareness.

Even the pandemic provided us all with an opportunity to become a more universally accessible society with working from home and remote options being made more common in the work place.

A major initiative championed for so long by our community.  

Not all these changes had a positive accessible impact, however.

Poorly thought-out table placement for temporary outdoor dining has created additional obstacles for people with physical and visual disabilities, but this is just a symptom of a wider issue.

An issue that risks us returning to old, ableist ways of doing things.

A risk that was perfectly encapsulated by what happened to Israel’s Water and Energy Minister, Karine Elharrar at COP26 last year.

Karine Elharrar, a wheelchair user, was unable to attend this crucial climate event with fellow leaders due to a failure in accessibility-related foresight, a month before International Day of People with Disabilities.

This incident would have never happened had accessibility not been relegated to an afterthought, like it so often is.

I have frequently experienced similar circumstances myself, being refused entry or being forced to put myself in an uncomfortable situation to accommodate a venue’s lack of accessibility.

On one occasion I had to struggle up a flight of stairs on stage to accept a prize for the work my own company, Access Earth, were doing for accessibility!

At no point did the organisers think to themselves the simple, practical fact, how would I get on stage?

These experiences felt by Karine Elharrar and I are by no means unique to just the two of us and nor are they a rare occurrence.

There are over one billion people in the world with a form of disability according to the WHO.

This number is increasing due to demographic trends and increases in chronic health conditions, among other causes.

In countries with life expectancies over 70 years, individuals spend on average about eight years, or 11.5 per cent of their life span, living with disabilities.

Accessibility is a very real concern that everyone will face at some point in their lives and without conscious consideration towards accessibility needs, we will fall into the trap of designing environments we may all eventually age out of and exclude others from.

If I had one wish, it would simply be to embed in the hearts, mind and soul of every living person this conscious consideration.

With empathy, understanding, knowledge and awareness we can drive our society forward so everyone can Access Earth.

Matt McCann is the CEO and co-founder of Access Earth.

Matt lives his life with cerebral palsy and used his personal lived experiences to create Access Earth and is building the world’s largest database of accessibility information.

To find out more about Matt and Access Earth visit www.accessearth.com.

Recare: Rehabilitation and enablement equipment specialists

Recare has been at the forefront of offering specialist mobility products for over a decade.

Two primary standing options are using a manual or powered base.

The powered options are the most requested route as they offer a wealth of fully adjustable seating and standing positions to configure to individual requirements.

Recare provides a complete range for standing, whether you need to sit or lay to stand. Our renowned rehabilitation expertise provides Permobil, Karma Mobility or Quickie standing solutions.

The manual wheelchair range can come with powered assisted seating but is not as bespoke as a fully functional powerchair.

When it comes to the benefits of standing manual and power products, it is also necessary to consider the disadvantages of being unable to.

The negative impact of prolonged sitting has been researched, and the evolution towards standing desks makes this point clear for able-bodied people to prevent the adverse effects on their health.

So why is it that disabled patients are still expected to sit?

The studies show that standing with assistive technology improves physical and psychological rehabilitation outcomes.

Access to this normal bodily function in a client's rehabilitation may be due to the essential requirements to stand safely, whether in a clinical rehabilitation facility or at home without safe support.

Standing technology reduces fatigue and physical burden whilst providing all the outlined benefits.

Evidence shows that the benefits of standing reduce additional healthcare requirements and costs to the healthcare system.

Why is the need to stand so important?

· Allows independent weight bearing multiple times a day, essential to reducing osteoporosis, reducing the risk of joint contractures, and facilitating normal bone and joint development.

· Transfers pressure away from the scapulae, sacrum, coccyx and ischial tuberosities, reducing skin breakdown risk.

· Assists with digestion, respiration, bowel and bladder management and appropriate bladder and bowel emptying; reduces the risk of constipation and urinary tract infections.

· Improves psychosocial status and participation, allowing client increased access and independence to perform mobility-related activities of daily living.

· Provides improved compliance with the patient standing programme by having the power standing technology readily available for active, independent use while the patient is safely and securely in their everyday mobility product.

This reduces the risk of harm and falls, improving continued safety for the patient and all clinicians and family assisting in daily physical therapy.

· Increases reach for functional access and make patients more productive at home, school and work. Reduces overhead reaching and the risk of a shoulder injury.

· Improves access to toilets, sinks, counters, cabinets and wardrobes, improving independence with mobility-related daily activities in the home, community or workplace.

· When slowly coming to stand from the reclined position, pausing at choice reduces the risk of orthostatic hypotension. It controls abnormal or primitive reflexes and provides spasticity management.

· Reduces depression and other psychosocial issues, enhances interaction with others and allows clients to connect face-to-face with friends, family, and peers.

· Powered standing technology allows the user to stand and drive, enhancing client mobilisation, whilst providing an effective means of pressure relief that reduces skin breakdown risk.

In 2021 Permobil, the renowned F5 Vs Corpus standing power manufacturer did a study culminating 363 studies done since 2010 to summarise the outcomes of the data available.

This systematic overview looks into the clinical, functional and psychosocial benefits of standing and its effects on disabled people.

It is important to note that there is a circular correlation between these separated groups.

Clinical benefits:

Motor ability    Range of motion Spasticity

Muscle length   Pain   Bowel and Bladder

Bone mineral density   Skin: pressure relief

Functional benefits:

. Independent mobility-related activities and daily living     

. Communication

. Education

 Psychological benefits:

. Mental health                        

. Self-esteem                           

. Happiness

Power standing or manual standing

There is significant research into why standing, using standing aids, is necessary for individuals' primary rehabilitation therapy at home and clinical facilities.

The typical rehabilitation static standing frame does allow people to stand. Such devices mean that clients can access the clinical and functional benefits of standing.

However, to comply with their rehabilitation therapy standing plan, using these devices means clients are stuck and immobilised in one place.

This reduces the likelihood of clients fulfilling all their standing therapy for the short term but, more significantly, maintaining their compliance to stand in the long term.

 "79 per cent of subjects highly recommended standing devices to people with a spinal cord injury."

- Dunn RB, Walter JS, Lucero Y, et al.

1998 The follow-up study of standing mobility device users.

A traditional standing frame requires transferring between products with or without assistance onto the stander.

The study of children and their behaviour reflects the overall approach by most people towards the continuous demands of regular static standing frame use.

The acceptance and utility of these standing frames at any age can become challenging to use in confined spaces and put additional risk to caregivers' safety.

As children gain independence, standing rehabilitation compliance is reduced. This demotivation escalates when they are required to physically transfer onto another piece of equipment every time they need to stand.

This is reflected in adherence studies in adults, including the need to protect caregivers' health and safety.

Standing regimes no longer need to feel like a chore, with the need to transfer, hold on to and time themselves waiting on a static frame.

What happens when they aren't having a good day, don't feel well, or are even too tired? It feels like it requires an overwhelming challenge of effort to achieve multiple times a day. It is easier not to do it at all.

The static standing frame takes up considerable room in client home environments and limits the client to only complying with their standing regime whilst they are home.

This affects when they are on holiday, if they go to work, even if they spend the time socialising, in the environments, they come across daily, they have no access to standing capability.

"The difference is fewer people are involved and not getting hurt (like transferring to a standing frame or walker), it is safer and socially better, just not to have to make a scene rather than stand up."                                                                                             Anonymous

Why aren't people standing during everyday activities in their daily lives?

The main reason, as mentioned above, is that most people don't have integrated standing capability in their mobility products and can only stand in their home environment or with professional or caregiver support.

Standing manual wheelchairs and powerchairs both have technology in design to add the biomechanical essence of standing.

This inbuilt technology means the client can experience all the benefits of significant load distribution in their continuous access to assisted repositioning and pressure relief at any time.

All standing devices aid the client in reducing the load on their seat and backrest.

The key benefit of the modern manual and powered standing devices available today is that they no longer differentiate standing from everyday mobility.

Technology today offers the user a combination of these in one product fulfilling more of the client's rehabilitative requirements.

Compliance with standing rehabilitation programs increases with it being easier for clients to integrate standing into daily activities and at home. It also benefits integrating standing into their social, economic and educational environments.

Why is the Permobil F5 VS the market-leading recommended standing powerchair?

The Permobil brand is renowned for designing advanced and long-lasting reliable powerchairs.

They invest in the latest technology, research and high-quality materials to create a standing powerchair with features and benefits suitable for many clients and adapt to their personalised mobility solutions.

The Permobil F5 VS has a vast range of configurability.

Let us investigate deeper through some of the more unique features that make the Permobil standing powerchair the ideal standing powerchair for clients.

An integrated Intelligent Computer System (ICS) as standard on the powerchair works alongside the controller power module, operating multiple functions simultaneously, providing the smoothest, most natural biomechanics of standing from sitting to standing or to lay flat to stand.

We personalised postural support to assist in moving through all of the seating positions and powerchair functions. To maintain this postural support and to ensure safety whilst standing, the powerchair has a chest support padded bar, pelvic belt (or an alternative safety belt or harness if more suitable), and secure, padded knee supports.

These are the minimum essential requirements to stand securely whilst assuring safe repositioning. The consumer feedback on these standard positioning supports is available below.

The Permobil powerchair has many possible seating positions to choose from.

The joystick can operate them or, as many prefer, operate the multiple functions with a switch box on hand to make changing positions significantly easier.

Depending on their preference, these controls can be on either side of the client and dual to have attendant controls. Alternatively, they can be operated as attendant control only.

With any of the controls, including repositioning and standing, it is not a continuous movement. Once the control is released, the chair will stop in position, and the operator of any function of the powerchair has complete control.

You may be questioning why the Permobil F5 VS (vertical standing) powerchair has standing, anterior tilt and 14" seat lift features in one powerchair.

With the capacity of the powerchair to stand, people still need choice, and often people can't stand for as long as they would like to.

If in a social environment such as at a bar with friends, standing in their powerchair engages in positive social interaction, most noticeably, clients see the change in how people engage with them more directly.

They see others seeing them and making eye contact before they see their powerchair and their disability.

This new feeling of inclusivity in their social environment is essential to maintain even if physically they cannot stand the whole time.

This is when the powerchair's 14" seat lift can be used to raise the user to that same eye level, with the comfort and postural support of their choice of seating position and be able to adjust this and mobilise the powerchair.

The Permobil F5 VS has the same anterior tilt capability as the PDG Mobility Elevation manual wheelchairs. Unique advanced technology to lift the seat forwards gives more positioning options for pressure relief.

Additional opportunity for boosting circulation and bone density if patients don't always feel they can want to use the complete vertical stand (VS) capability every time.

Anterior tilt does have functional benefits; the forward seat tilt and lift give patients additional height to reach cupboards and shelves.

Tilting forwards offers clients reach over the front of the manual and powered wheelbase. This provides better reach as they can get closer to reaching a worktop, sink, bars, desks, kiosks and tasks such as using a cash machine.

Whilst most powerchairs boast these functions using the standard seat lift, the reach and positioning support of the anterior seat tilt provides unparalleled advantages.

While operating these products anterior tilt, they can also mobilise whilst in the tilt position, enabling greater manoeuvrability during mobility-related daily activities.

Suppose clients struggle with the Permobil F5 VS having the rigid padded chest bar or using the knee blocks. In that case, they give positioning postural support whilst seating, in anterior tilt and the significant safety necessity when operating the standing function.

If the client doesn't want the bars in place, they are both removable by the powerchair user whilst using the Permobil F5 VS If they are functionally able, they can equally put the two bars onto the powerchair.

Many F5 VS powerchair users offer positive feedback on having the option and flexibility, giving them greater independence whilst doing everyday activities.

Examples include:  getting washed and changed, transferring out of the powerchair or even mobilising their upper body were able to maintain flexibility, strength and stability.

One to the design of the powerchair and the way the bars slot in place securely, users report that adding and removing the support bars requires minimal grip strength.

The powerchair user can adjust the knee block leg supports if needed for comfort or positioning to alter how close the knee blocks are to their lower legs.

The powerchair adjustability makes it possible not to remove the support entirely to avoid needing to store them when using the powerchair in all environments.

Now you've learned of some great technology and advanced unique features of the Permobil F5 VS powerchair. The industry leader in biomechanical and postural vertical standing. Combined with the technology to drive and reposition the powerchair in an upright standing position.

Reposition the powered wheelchair by mobilisation whilst using the 45º anterior tilt position. The powerchair technology allows one to stand vertically from the seated position and from the 180º lay flat position.

Permobil powerchairs equally have the leading biomechanical and positioning in vertical standing. With the powered backrest, the powerchair seating positioning is adjustable even when lying flat.

Also powered independently is the powered leg rest. Of course, the legrests have the powered elevating leg rest function.

More unique is the technology to raise and lower the height of the leg rests, giving the advantage of lowering the front of the F5 VS meaning that combined with the powerchair being front-wheel drive, the client can get closer to a broader range of desks and tables.

The Permobil F5 VS is a high-cost powerchair. However, consider the vast amount of technology and features built into this market-leading impressive powerchair.

This powerchair is available in an endless configurations. It takes on the integrational role of multiple products, an advanced multi-function powerchair, in their environment, saving virtual space, for example, not needing a bulgy standing frame in their home environment.

Safety and reducing risk to clients and caregivers reduce the chances of needing to transfer to other equipment.

You can still have the anterior (forward) tilt integrated into the PDG Mobility Ultralight Elevation wheelchair.

 Sit Right, Lay Flat, Stand Tall, and Live Life Better

As you have seen, there are many reasons for clients to add standing into their everyday lives independently.

There is substantial research and development of technology available, and we have outlined many big questions.

There are many more reasons why it is necessary and how technology today allows the ideal biomechanical standing function.

With the combination of clinical, functional and psychosocial benefits, every client should have the opportunity to stand.

Get in touch if you aren't sure if the client would be suitable for an everyday integrated standing mobility solution.

Recare has experience with advanced complex rehabilitation consults within our team.

We have various services available, including; educational demonstrations to professionals with access to standing products, joint or ourselves providing showrooms, clinics, homes, hospitals or other preferences throughout the UK. Recare is adaptable to you.

For anything you have to ask, get in touch, and we will assist you in accessing and learning more.

Remember, we have our Pressure Mapping equipment and significant product access.

Recare is your one-stop access to a complete combined mobility and rehabilitation solution. From initial enquiry to maintenance throughout the products' lifetime, Recare has engineering specialists, so we source, combine and create any modification or adaptation.

Recare provides a genuinely personalised mobility solution to give clients access to optimal independence and fulfil their lives as much as possible.

Every client can access funding support. Every client deserves the key to standing safely with their mobility solution.

Get in touch today to request your organisation, professional or client demonstration on 03303202492 or email us at info@recare.co.uk.

AddSeat: "It's a joy to sell and a joy to make"

AddSeat is a gyro-based wheelchair helping disabled people access spaces out of reach to conventional wheelchairs.

Launched in Sweden 2012 by paralympic goal medal skier, Marit Sundin, AddSeat is now sold across the UK, EU and US.

 AddMovement CEO, Mike Redford, says:

“Marit really wanted to get around on a Segway. But obviously, with no legs, she needed to have a seat, hence the name, AddSeat.”

The AddSeat’s driving control system enables the user to navigate tight spaces and explore off-road terrain, from forests to snow-covered grass.

But, for many users, the AddSeat’s appeal comes from the freedom to enjoy those day-to-day experiences that many able-bodied people take for granted.

Mike says:

“If your child plays Sunday football and you want to go up and down the grass and shout at the referee, with AddSeat, you can!”

One New York-based AddSeat user can finally get on the subway and enjoy Central Park. Not just the footpaths, but also on the grass. 

A woman in Alaska looks after several horses on her farm in harsh conditions. She is on her second AddSeat, and drives around in the snow, enabling her to do her work with fewer restrictions.

Mike recently spoke to a customer in Sweden about how the AddSeat has not only improved her life but her partner’s, too.

Mike says:

“She was so happy that she could go to [Swedish island] Gotland. The area has loads of cobblestones that a wheelchair would normally struggle with.

“She used to get a taxi from the hotel to her favourite restaurant 150 metres away because it was such hard work. With the AddSeat, she and her partner can go together, hand-in-hand.

“And after they’ve eaten, she can go shopping in one direction and he can go in the other direction. Before, they'd have to be together all the time.

“Now they can enjoy more independent lives.”

With its cool, customisable design, AddSeat is a talking point wherever it goes, helping to open up conversation between the user and those around them.

Mike spoke to one individual who was often frustrated as people tended to just talk to her, while ignoring her cousin in the wheelchair chair. Her cousin buying an AddSeat has changed all that.

“She felt really good because now with the AddSeat, her cousin was being noticed and talked to,” Mike says.

“And because of the adjustable height of the AddSeat, conversation happens much closer to eye level, which in turn changes how people perceive you.”

AddSeat has a very diverse range of customers with all sorts disabilities. The technology can be adapted to user needs and preferences, which can often change over time.

Clients with MS, for example, may initially use a standing Segway, but then find the need for a seated one.

The AddMovement team encourage potential customers to try AddSeat for themselves. If they like it, great. If not, that’s fine, too. What is important is that the customer ends up with something that is right for them.

Mike says:

“It's a joy to sell and it's a joy to make.

“When we get letters from customers who are thankful for what we've done in developing this product and getting it out there… it’s just absolutely fulfilling.”

Mike is excited to build on the success of AddSeat with a new project now underway.

The team is working with Innovate UK as part of its healthy ageing programme, where they will launch an all-new company and develop a new chair.

Mike can’t say too much just yet, but the chair will appeal to a broader range of customer and an ever-growing user-base.

Mike says:

“We will take a lot of the aspects of the AddSeat that people really love and build from there.

“It’s small, compact design, variable height… all the things that people love about what we're doing now but targeted at a broader church of customers.

“We've already done some work with one university in the UK and we're going to be doing some more work with another university.

“Next year, we plan to move our research and development to the UK and eventually manufacturing as well."

Find out more about AddSeat at addmovement.com

 

Trexo Robotics: "Watching him take those first steps was the proudest moment of my life"

“You're not really aware of this space until you're thrust into it,” Trexo Robotics CEO and co-founder, Manmeet Maggu says of learning about his nephew’s cerebral palsy diagnosis.

It’s a familiar story in the world of health tech development. Personal experience opens the eyes to a hidden challenge, revealing a gap in the market.

A life without walking can lead to many health complications, from digestive and sleep issues, to blood clots and lower bone density, as well as reduced kidney function and more. .

“After we learned that, we said, there has to be a better way. There had to be some sort of solution that would help my nephew to walk,” Manmeet says.

Working alongside children, families, and physiotherapist, Manmeet and co-founder and CTO Rahul Udasi began building a prototype walking-assistance device from their Toronto base. 

With their first promising product ready, they packed it up and flew out to India to see Manmeet’s nephew.

Sadly, the prototype fell short of the mark.

“We made a few more changes while we were there. And then, finally, my nephew was able to take his first steps using the Trexo.”

The prototype was still limited. But their progress gave the duo confidence that they were on the right track.

A couple of iterations later, Manmeet watched his nephew walk in the park for the first time.

“Watching him take those first steps was the proudest moment of my life,” Manmeet says.

By the time they returned home, word had gotten out. Families and hospitals were eager to try the technology for themselves. 

It was then, in 2019, that Manmeet and Rahul decided to launch Trexo Robotics with the aim to help parents reimagine their children’s future. 

Now, hundreds of children all over North America are using the device daily both at home and in clinics. The Trexo Plus clinic device is now in clinics around the world.

Trexo users recently achieved a huge milestone. An incredible 20 million steps walked  - the equivalent of a walk around the world

Tailored to their individual needs, the Trexo is designed to support a child through their entire growth continuum.

Manmeet explains:

“We designed our system around the Rifton Dynamic Pacer. It's the world’s most popular gait trainer for children. 

“Robotic legs attach onto the walker and onto the child's legs, powering the system. 

“The whole device is controlled with a tablet interface and the software is uniquely set up for each child. 

“If a child has a stronger left side and a weaker right side, the robot can provide more assistance on the right and less on the left. 

“As the child gets stronger over time, the assistance of the motors can be reduced and the child takes on more of the work.” 

Four sensors track how much the child is initiating and during which phases of walking.

Manmeet says: 

“As a caregiver or physiotherapist, you can see not only how much assistance or resistance a child is giving but also in what part of the gait pattern, which is quite helpful.”

Users have reported how Trexo has helped improve head control and bowel function, reduce sleep disturbance, improve gait pattern and increase core strength, in addition to increased confidence and independence.

Walking with Trexo appears to offer psychological and social benefits, too.

Trexo is now working on a number of clinical studies to establish these observed benefits in objective papers. 

Manmeet regularly receives messages from parents who had always dreamed of walking with their child. And now they can.

Other dreams are coming true for the children and parents.

One child was able to walk down the aisle in her Trexo as a flower girl. Many children walked across the stage in school graduation ceremonies.

One child completed a triathlon with his Trexo used for the walking portion.

One of the mums recently shared that her daughter walked to school in her Trexo to make a donation to a Food Bank and she did the Terry Fox Walk in her Trexo.

From camping to walks with friends to street lacrosse, we are seeing kids experience things they never have, before their Trexo.

Along with aiding this connection between family members, the Trexo is connecting families to each other and they are forming friendships and support networks.

Manmeet says:

“Two children in different families each passed one million steps. The incredible milestone was celebrated by the family and their peers.”

2022 is drawing to a close in an exciting way.

October produced the most sales the company has ever done in a month and collectively the kids took the most steps they ever have in any given month.

Manmeet hopes to see a whole new wave of families’ lives changed by the Trexo in 2023.

Trexo has recently partnered with Make-A-Wish to deliver a Wish to Walk to children in the U.S. and Canada.

The company is starting to see insurance reimbursement, with case approvals from Medicaid, BlueCross, BlueShield and other US partners. 

Manmeet says: 

“It makes sense for insurance companies to pay for a technology that has a child walking from a young age. 

“Not only will it improve their quality of life, but it will also actually save insurance companies money in the long term.”

Learn more at trexorobotics.com

Loopwheels: Get in the Loop

Loopwheels are wheelchair wheels with integrated suspension, enabling the user to feel less vibration in the chair, as well as feeling reduced impacts from bumps and jolts.

Loopwheels Urban launched in 2020 and hundreds of people around the world now benefit from Loopwheels, from Austria to Australia to the United Kingdom and United States.

Loopwheels offers a much more comfortable ride compared with spoked wheels and many of our customers also find different health benefits dependent on their condition and symptoms.

Steve Smith, a customer with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), told us:

“I’m a T12 Paraplegic and since I’ve had Loopwheels I’ve had less pressure sores and no more back pain, why would you use anything else?”

Lisa Hendricks has Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS). Common EDS symptoms include loose and unstable joints, joint pain and severe fatigue.

Lisa said:

“My spine is very unstable, and with normal wheels I was in a lot of pain. [Loopwheels] really changed my life, as they reduced all the bumps in the road and really reduced my pain”

Cassie who has Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) echoed that sentiment, saying:

“CRPS means I am in 24/7 pain. With Loopwheels I felt an immediate improvement and they are life saving for me, as I had less pain, and felt more stable.

"The ride was so much smoother meaning it didn’t aggravate my tremors as much "

There are three key groups that seem to benefit the most from Loopwheels:

1. Customers with conditions where pain is triggered by movement, including EDS and CRPS.

2. Customers who use a power or bike attachment, such as TriRide, Klaxon Klick, Stricker, Batec, Team Hybrid or Street Jet.

Faster travel over the ground can create much more discomfort, therefore these wheelchair users feel the benefit of suspension much faster.

3. Spinal Cord Injury

These customers can experience a number of health complications resulting from their SCI.

Many users report reductions in pain, spasms and fatigue after using Loopwheels.

University of Nottingham postgraduate student Harrison reviewed published evidence on vibration, along with our own testing and surveys, which enabled him to draw some conclusions.

Harrison learned that a massive 50 per cent of wheelchair users suffer from back pain and, despite the complex causes of back pain, 65 per cent of Loopwheels customers reported a noticeable improvement in their back pain.

Similarly, 42 per cent of customers who bought Loopwheels to manage fatigue recorded a noticeable improvement in their fatigue levels.

Some health authorities are completely convinced of the health benefits of Loopwheels.

In fact, in Norway and Germany Loopwheels are available “on prescription”, so if a clinician thinks that Loopwheels will benefit that customer, the state (or health insurance) will pay for the wheels as part of the overall set up for that customer. 

We really hope to see more authorities adopting this approach in the future.

So, what does all this tell us?

Firstly, that Loopwheels primarily suit active wheelchair users, and secondly, that it is very important to consider each customer separately.

To help ensure that our prospective customers benefit from Loopwheels, customers in the UK can try any of our wheels for two weeks for just £35 (to cover postage).

What we offer

Launched in 2015, our original Loopwheels Classic are available in seven colours.

Just mix and match your own eye-catching colour combination and away you go.

Loopwheels Classic start at £965 for black springs and a standard pushrim.

Weighing around 1.8kg each, this is a heavier option than a spoked wheel, but customers who go ahead after a trial clearly feel that the benefits offset this weight increase.

Our best-selling wheel is the new Loopwheels Urban.

Customers can order regular, soft or stiff springs dependent on their weight and how they use the wheels.

These wheels are brilliant for everyday use, as they handle all kinds of surfaces, from city streets though to forest tracks with ease.

They really are the only wheels that most people will need. 

For serious off-road users we offer Loopwheels Extreme wheels.

These are similar to the Loopwheels Urban but have a mountain bike tyre for extra grip on trails.

Most customers who opt for these will have them as a second pair of wheels that can get muddy and then be left in the car or garage after they have been hosed down!

Loopwheels Urban and Loopwheels Extreme weigh around 1.3kg and cost £1,995 with a regular pushrim.

We understand that the wheels can be expensive for some potential customers and the cost of living crisis is hitting all of us hard.

We are more than happy to help where we can try by offering a payment plan so the wheels can we paid for over 11 months.

Customers have been successful getting grants from charities too, so we recommend researching the available options.

For more information, please contact Loopwheels on 01623 860909 or email to info@loopwheels.com