A Chance to Walk Again: Wheelchair to Walker

Everyone knows someone who has found a wheelchair to be a useful mobility tool at some point in their life. The use may be temporary or permanent. Old age, skeletal or muscular disorders, severe weakness, congenital anomalies, neurological conditions, spinal cord injuries, amputations or other conditions may signal need for a wheelchair. Accessibility for wheelchair users has never been greater; public buildings, private companies and transportation accommodate anyone. And learning to use a chair for moving forward with your life just takes a little practice.

Automobile accidents are a major cause of paralysis or loss of limb. A 26-year-old man, Jeremy Gates, was critically injured after crashing his car into a tree off a rain-slicked road. His brain suffered traumatic injury, he was in a coma for three months, and when he awoke his injuries left him confined to a wheelchair. He was determined to walk again, and after four years in the wheelchair was able to regain some use of his legs. New research, therapy techniques and sheer will proved key to his improved condition.

Elon University and Alamance Regional Medical Center’s Center for Fitness & Human Movement Studies is researching physical therapy and mobility innovations and working to give patients an opportunity to rehabilitate and walk again. Gates turned out to be a perfect patient for a study the center was performing on “trunk mobilization exercises,” according to the Burlington Times News.

The study worked to have Gates learn to contract his abdominal muscles so he could learn to balance and secure his frame and stand. His story is one of success. Using those techniques, Gates has made progress each year, from wheelchair to walker to now walking with the aid of crutches.

But many others still struggle to do everyday tasks.

While you are undergoing physical therapy and participating in new sports and other activities, and making new friends, and learning new things at college, being able to get from one point to another is important. Renting or purchasing Van Products wheelchair vans or mobility vans can get you on the move again.