I intend to visit a family out of state and they live in 2nd floor apartment.I am T4 and wondering if anyone has an idea how I can 'climb' up in the aprt room avoiding lodging in a motel for a week ,which is very expensive.

Geek,

There ae basicly three ways:

1) If you have people to help you AND the passage/stair (including turns) is wide enough to take the chair itself, then stay in the chair, put two regular people (including women) , or one very strong person at the back, with one or two people at the front of the chair. You lean the whole chair backward so that the chair and you are in balance, and then the team at the back pull ONE stair and stop. The team at the front then block the chair at this point, and then the people at the back move themselves (not you) one stair, plant their feet, and pull you up another. Then front people up a stair and block chair. Back people up a step. Back people pull the chair up a step. Front people come up a step. Back people up. Chair up. Front people up. etc etc.

Always remember that the chair has to be leaning back. No effort should be wasted keeping you from falling out frontwards. And the wheel rolls over the steps. That is what the big wheels can do. Also remember the sequence. People tend to combine the steps, as for instance the back people mounting a stair AND pulling the chair at the same time, while the front people are just tagging along, and the potential exists, if these people have no particultar work experience, for the people at the back to let the front end of the chair down, pulling forward, while their feet are not firmly planted, thus losing control and passing this free weight on to the front people who are similarly not doing anything particular at that time, and somebody is going to slip and get hurt. You. The people in front. It doesn't matter. Don't let it happen.

Coming down is worse. In this case, the people are amazed at how easy it is. Well, Duh. You are going down hill with gravity on your side. If the team starts picking up speed and not firmly stopping the chair on every step the accident (you and the wheelchair crashing onto the peple in front) is just waiting to happen.

But I don't want to scare you. This method really works. Three very ordinary people working in time at a steady pace can go up three or four floors without even getting winded. Neither you nor they would suspect what you and your friends are capable of doing in this respect.

When I was in my wilder younger days, I had a favorite bar/disco on the third floor, and I would just go up to the door, wait in the street till a party of three or four came along, perfectly unprepared neophytes, and I would just say, "Hey, How about a hand up here?" And then just start in telling them what to do, and presto, that was that. Same thing coming down.

One suggestion: It is worth telling the people in front that THEY are the people most likely to get hurt if the weight gets away, and it is thus in THEIR interest to block the chair frimly on every step. Otherwise, they tend tothink all the work is being done at the back and just follow or actually lean on the chair themselves. The fear of being rolled over should fix that.

Also, occaisonally, you will meet with people who are just very athletic, or have experience in moving heavy objects, and then, just relax and go with the ride.

This is by far the preferred option. But... The space may not permit the wheelchair. so

2) The people will have to lift you without the chair. This can be done two at the front and two at the back. It can be done one or two at the back and one at the front. It can be done one at each side with hands linked under you in the firemans chair. It can also be done by one man alone. But if you are not dealing with a giant and you yourself are not pretty light, and even then, you should be aware that one false step in a long flight of stairs could put one or both of you back into rehab.

Whatever means you use, always know where you are going. There should be a chair at the top to set you down in, while you are waiting for your chair to come up folded, or you have to choose a place outside downstairs to wait while the chair goes up ahead of you.

3) Finally, you may just not have the help required, but still have a powerful motivation to go up. For instance, you may be coming home from the bar at 3:00 A.M. with a delicious person who lives on a third floor. In this case, you must transfer onto the third step or so, and you must set your feet with your knees bent on a lower step. Then using whatever advantages you can, like handrails, and the steps themselves, lift your but up one stair and then ift up your legs, and then do that again and again until you get to the top. If you are alone, you will also have to wrestle up the chair. If you are lucky enough to have a delicious person, that person can handle the chair, and, if she/he helps with your legs by holding under the knees and following with your pulls, you can easly do two steps at a time.

All of these ways are tried and true.

As a humerous aside, on one occaison, I was using method three, making a fair amount of noise, and a neighbor came out on the second floor landing. He saw me, an unknown male, sitting/lying on the stairs trying to haul myself up, with a lovely young lady bent over me similarly hauling at my knees. The chair was still down in the entrance, so he didn't see that. All he did was mutter "Jeezus..." Shake his head and close his door on this pathetic spectacle of some stumblebum on the way home from a late night. In other words, the situation is more normal than you think. AB's have to be carried up stairs sometimes too.

Hope this helps. It can be done. Accessibility is nice. But it is not required for you to go where needed.

Best Regards,

Gordon

I saw a guy on you-tube climb stairs while in his chair. He used the hand rail on one side to pull himself up one stair at a time, one wheel at a time. He used the wheel on the other side to roll himself up one stair at a time. Backwards of course.

Hard to explain but if you see the video, and have some upper body strength, it doesn't look that difficult.

I weigh well over 300 pounds so if there ain't an elevator or a frigging football team readily available I'm well and truly scah-rooed

E

T4 complete? Incomplete? Any strength and coordination in your legs, or none? Depending on how mobile you are, you may have more possibilities. GordonR has covered the main ones though.

Dear Dog,

I saw a guy on the news a few years back who climbed the CN Tower (in Toronto I believe) which was once the world's highest freestanding structure, so I don't know, maybe fifty floors, who knows. I bet it is the same guy you saw, or may be his coach. I remember I had two thoughts: first, the tires had to be really special to get such a good grip on the stair, and second, because he was also kind of Hopping up, he must have had the chair strapped to his ass, otherwise it wouldn't have followed him.


On the news he was wearing a tee shirt, and yes, the arms looked like tree trunks.

I was just amazed. I have some "upper body strength" but I can't see myself doing that. The best I ever did was pulling myself up two steps, backwards, through a door frame where I was able to get my hands onto both sides of the frame and just pull back. That was really hard alone, and if not done just right I had the problem of separating from my chair. On the other hand, I lived in that place several months, and with my wife pulling on the handles while I pulled on the doorframe, it was a piece of cake.


Best Regards,

Gordon

Gordan,,,,,,,YOU DA MAN!!!!!!!!

[I am T4 complete ,been so since 2006.I am 170lbs in weight did not have much therapy but still undergoing it.I experience a lot of back pain.YOU GUYS are wonderful ,THANKS for the advice {tell me more if still anything out} I will definitely try most of the tricks that you beloved guys wrote.Its going to be women ,my g.friend and her mum and most likely we may get a few men around to assist now that we have an idea of what to do. THANK YOU AGAIN ,God bless you all .

It's EXTREMELY difficult for me to do this and I have a really strong upper body. Not as strong as an athletic type of guy certainly but I find it almost impossible to bump up stairs in my chair. I've been hitting the gym more frequently these days and I'm hoping that I'll be able to do it soon enough.

If there's no one around to carry my ass up the stairs, I get out and drag myself and my chair up (or down).Grip the chair in one hand, railing in the other and expect to work hard because it's not easy either and takes upper body strength. I'm T8 and about 100lbs. There have been many time where I've just lost my grip on my chair and it's went tumbling down the stairs. Just yesterday I was leaving a friend's house who has four big concrete stairs going down her front porch and we took a tumble going down the stairs so be very careful! I was trying to bump down the stairs in my chair, she was trying to help by holding the front of the frame, she lost her balance or something, went over backwards and I fell down in the stairs IN my chair. Luckily no one got hurt and we just looked like idiots.

I also wanted to say for those who do not have the best hand strength or if there is another reason you can not just grab your leg and pull it up? if you go up the stairs on your bum as previously described?

I carry a terrycloth belt (from a housecoat) it is really long. I hook it under my foot and then I wrap it around my hand and I can easily lift my leg that way. I use it any time I have to lift my leg because I am unable to grab and move my leg with my hands.

This simple solution has also enabled me to get into and out of my non modified shower on my own as well as into the van without assistance. I carry the belt in my bag at all times... and it comes in handy.

To add to step three, a rope here works wonders, tie it to the back of the chair, pull your self up to the top and the pull the chair up, same with going down, you can lower it with the rope, normally works better when tied to the footplate when letting it roll down. If you have pretty good strength and 1 person helping you do step 3 but them holding your fee up and you just walk up backwards on your hands, not really a need to stop every stair or two until you are at the top or worn out. Also with 1 other person you can do the trick E-Dog spoke of with just a bit of help.

for small stairs, 3 or 4 that have hand rails on both sides you can reach you can do it with 1 person in front of you in the chair holding up the footrest while you hand walk up using the handrails and they pull on the footrest.

So many ways to do it, just get out there and get R done.