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The Wheelchair Blog
There are many types of wheelchairs and wheelchair users. This blog focuses primarily on issues related to manual wheelchairs for people who live active lifestyles.
Getting Started in Making a DIY Wheelchair - Erik Kondo
I have been getting a lot of requests from people interested in making a DIY wooden wheelchair. While I have detailed CAD plans and...
Wheelchair First Aid - Erik Kondo
#WheelchairFirstAid As a long time wheelchair user, I am constantly encountering people whose manual wheelchairs have broken down in...
Over-Treading a Plastic Wheelchair Wheel - Erik Kondo
Before/After Over-Treading I recently wrote about the widespread problem of the cheap injection molded plastic wheelchair wheels. The...
The Plastic Wheelchair Wheel is a Cheap Flip Flop – Erik Kondo
Plastic Wheelchair Wheels are the Flip Flips of Assistive Technology. The commonly used 24"x1” (injection molded) polyurethane wheelchair...
The DIY Foot Swing Platform - Erik Kondo
One common problem created by hospital style wheelchairs is unsupported feet and legs. This problem is the direct result of the use of...
Isn’t Any Wheelchair Better than No Wheelchair at All? - Erik Kondo
I spend a lot of time talking and writing about the deficiencies of hospital (Fast-Food) style wheelchairs. I am sure there are many that...
"Frankensteining" Your Hospital Wheelchair (aka Pimp My Ride) – Erik Kondo
Frankenstein sitting in a Hospital Wheelchair Almost everyone who uses a hospital wheelchair as their primary form of mobility is hugely...
Wheelchair Wheels, Part III: Off-Road Wheels - Erik Kondo
Making Sense of Wheelchair Wheels: Part I Wheelchair Wheels: Part II When it comes to navigating terrain in a wheelchair, there are few...
Wheelchair Profiteering, Part VIII: Wheelchair Design and the “Weakest Link” - Erik Kondo
A bicycle with a high quality frame could last decades with regular replacement of components. On the other hand, manual wheelchairs are...
Wheelchair Designs: Proprietary Integrated vs. Aftermarket Modular - Erik Kondo
There are two fundamentally different ways you can design a wheelchair. A. PROPRIERTY INTEGRATED DESIGN : You can design and build the...
Lessons in Wheelchair Profiteering: The Subscription Based Business Model - Erik Kondo
When you build a wheelchair, there are two opposite approaches you can take. Make the wheelchair as easy to repair and replace parts as...
Is the High Cost of Wheelchairs Only Due to the Economics of “Economy of Scale”? – Erik Kondo
The Legacy Wheelchair Industry has successfully convinced much of society that their pricing structure is simply the reality of the...
Understanding the Difference Between Robust and Resilient Wheelchairs, and Why it Matters - Erik Kondo
Wheelchairs that are sturdy and don’t break easily are Robust. Wheelchairs that are easy and affordable to repair are Resilient....
Why Are Low Cost and Functional Manual Wheelchairs NOT Widely Available? - Erik Kondo
If we are to believe the marketing of the Legacy Wheelchair Industry, there can be only two types of manual wheelchairs, either very...
Wheelchair Wheels, Part II - Erik Kondo
Making Sense of Wheelchair Wheels, Part I Wheelchair Wheels, Part III: Off-Road Wheels Wheelchair wheels and tires are one of the most...
Why Are Wheelchairs So Expensive? - Erik Kondo
Active manual wheelchairs in high income countries typically cost between $5,000 and $10,000+. This is a lot of money. Therefore, many...
Going to “The Beach” as a Wheelchair User – Erik Kondo
Ah, there is nothing like a relaxing day at The Beach. Well, that is if you can walk without difficultly. For wheelchair users, going to...
On Using Abled-Bodied Subjects in Wheelchair Propulsion Research – Erik Kondo
If you can walk in typical fashion, I would like you to imagine what it would be like to walk without having control of your trunk...
Inappropriate Assistive Technology Disease (IATD) – Erik Kondo
We are all familiar with the stories of the amazing things that assistive technology (AT) enables people with disabilities to do. What is...
DIY Urban Trike Wheel - Erik Kondo
There are a number of detachable trike wheels available to purchase for active wheelchairs. These devices typically cost about $600 or...
The DIY Trailwind - Max Fan and Erik Kondo
The purpose of the Trailwind is to provide power-assist for manual wheelchairs on rough terrain. It is NOT intended as full motorized...
Cheap Wheelchairs Part III: Survival of the Cheapest – Erik Kondo
When we typically think of evolution, we think of “ survival of the fittest” , where evolution is the process of something getting...
Cheap Wheelchairs Part II: The Throwaway Wheelchair Cycle – Erik Kondo
In Cheap Wheelchairs Part I , I discussed how the cheapest wheelchairs manufactured in China and sold wholesale on Alibaba.com are also...
Cheap Wheelchairs, Part I: You Get What You Pay For - Erik Kondo
There are millions of manual wheelchair users in the United States. The majority are using standard manual wheelchairs. These wheelchairs...
Wheelchair System Archetypes - Erik Kondo
Once you recognize that the mobility outcomes produced by a person using a wheelchair is the result of the interactions of a Complex...
The Wheelchair System - Erik Kondo
The mobility performance of a person using a wheelchair is the result of the output of a complex adaptive system made up of the...
The Tradeoff Between Wheelchair Comfort and Mobility – Erik Kondo
The primary purpose of a manual wheelchair is to provide mobility for replacing walking in the environment. The more active a wheelchair...
Wheelchair Profiteering, Part VII: Here is How I Would Do it (If I had No Ethics) – Erik Kondo
Let’s imagine I own a large and influential wheelchair manufacturing company. And my goal is to make the most amount of money possible...
Wheelchair Profiteering, Part VI: Exploring Solutions – Erik Kondo
Pointing out problems is fairly easy. Coming up with realistic solutions is much harder. So, lets take a look at a meaningful solution. ...
Wheelchair Profiteering, Part V: Unneeded Upselling – Erik Kondo
Profiteering by Upselling Unneeded Assistive Technology This type of profiteering happens when the upselling is for items that the...
Wheelchair Profiteering, Part IV: The Joy of Double Dipping – Erik Kondo
I am continuing on the theme from Part III which discusses how Ultra-Customization is used by the For-Profit Wheelchair Industry to...
Wheelchair Profiteering, Part III: The Strategy of Ultra-Customization – Erik Kondo
In Part II , I expanded on the money making strategy of Ultra-Commoditization . While this strategy is effective, it pales in comparison...
Wheelchairs Profiteering, Part II: The Wheelchair as a Widget – Erik Kondo
Let’s imagine that we own an industrial manufacturing company in China or some other industrialized country. We have excess manufacturing...
Wheelchair Profiteering, Part I: How the For-Profit Industry Makes Money – Erik Kondo
There are two primary methods used by the For-Profit Wheelchair Industry to generate profits. They can be summarized as follows: 1. ...
The Manual Wheelchair as a Personal Mobility Device – Erik Kondo
A few days ago marked my 39th year as a wheelchair user. That means for about 2/3rds of my life I have been using a wheelchair as my...
The Trikester Wheelchair - Erik Kondo
The Trikester wheelchair is simply a trike wheelchair that has been either made from scratch with DIY techniques and materials, or is the...
Beware the Wheelchair Users Performance Gap - Erik Kondo
In the active wheelchair world, there are a lot of people looking to obtain or create an assistive technology device that makes using a...
Making Sense of Wheelchair Wheels, Part I - Erik Kondo
Wheelchair Wheels, Part III: Off-Road Wheels Wheelchair Wheels: Part II When it comes to wheelchair wheels, there is a tremendous amount...
Systemically Flawed "Research Studies" on Wheelchair Propulsion - Erik Kondo
Muscular able-bodied man in a hospital wheelchair.
Habitual Manual Wheelchair Slumping - Erik Kondo
Many manual wheelchair users and industry professionals claim that a rigid orthopedic backrest automatically prevents a wheelchair user...
The Need for Improved Wheelchair Literacy - Erik Kondo
Imagine you wanted information on the workings of a bicycle, you would seek out an experienced bicycle technician and rider. Someone who...
The Evolution of Wheelchairs – Erik Kondo
Civil war era wheelchair and user.
The World’s Worst Wheelchair, Part II – Erik Kondo
In this writing, I will explore how the hospital wheelchair (HWC) has evolved to having the trifecta of being (1) the most difficult...
Literally the “Worst” Wheelchair in the World, Part I – Erik Kondo
It is a common question that people ask “What is the best manual wheelchair?”. This question cannot be answered since there is no “best”...
Wheelchair Performance Outcomes: Absolute and Relative – Erik Kondo
Wheelchairs are like other personal mobility devices (PMDs) such that designers, manufacturers, and innovators are constantly attempting...
On Wheelchair Static and Dynamic Stability - Part III - Erik Kondo
Part I , Part II Inherent Conflicts between Static Stability and Dynamic Stability A manual wheelchair is complex device that can be...
On Wheelchair Static and Dynamic Stability (Part II) - Erik Kondo
Read PART I The World is Not Smooth and Flat Historically, wheelchairs have been designed primarily for rolling on flat and smooth...
On Wheelchair Static and Dynamic Stability (Part I )– Erik Kondo
Photo Credit: Mark Hunt
Why Are Wheelchair-Users Still in the Dark Ages? – Erik Kondo
Over the years, we have seen dramatic improvement in the development of artificial limbs for amputees. Prostheses have progressed from...
Wheelie Skills and More - Erik Kondo
A wheelie is maintained by balancing the wheelchair’s Center of Mass directly over the wheelchair’s rear axle. Performing a wheelchair...
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