[seeker]

I met someone online, but not in person yet, and he is a T 10 Para. I am trying to learn as much as I can about being a good partner for him. I have learned a lot about his type of injury, although I haven't gotten up the nerve to ask him specifics about HIS injury. I was reading up on transferring and wondered if anyone helped their SOs transfer and if so how? I realize that it will ultimately be up to his preference, but I want to be prepared. Thanks. Keep smilin'

[russ1]

If he's T10 it's very unlikely he'll need any help transferring, most paras (people above T1) will expect to be pretty much completely independent reasonably soon after leaving hospital.

[hillarymcarter]

The only time my husband (L1) needs help transferring is when he is getting up into my SUV. That is also the only time he needs a transfer board. It is a high jump up for him. He doesn't need much help at all. Your friend will tell you if they need some help and they will tell you what to do.

[miss piggy]

HI My brother in law is T11-T12 but has lots of orthopaedic injuries. He has to be hoisted in and out of bed, and to get into a car we use a sliding board .I have always said to him YOU tell me what you wont me to .Don't be afraid to ask him its the only way to learn, plus you don’t feel like your taking away his independences .HAPPY LEARNING

[wheelie182]

Most people with that level of injury should fine transferring on their own, being T10 they have a lot more muscles in the waiste area, so they will have good balance and a lot of swing,

This post has been edited by wheelie182: 23 December 2005 - 03:27 PM

[AHolland]

A few pointers.

Start sitting normally. From there, manually move the feet/legs a bit into the direction they will end up in. For instance. Say you are sitting on the side of the bed, transferring into a wheelchair. This requires a movement of the body through a 90 degree turn. Therefore, start by manually moving (lift and replace) the feet where you hopefully want them when you finish.

Reach one arm over to the new surface where it will end up. This may be the armrest of the wheelchair. Put the second hand in tight to the body. I ball my fist up rather than splay the fingers out. If you splay the fingers out, it really hurts the fingers/wrist/hand after a while. For the arm close to the body, lock everything (arms hand etc) in a long straight manner. Your fist should now be punching the bed, close to your side and butt, about where your pants pocket bottom is.

Get use to swaying forward and back. Not in the direction of where you want to finish. The idea is to get use to using the arm close to the body as a pole to lift you up. The lift should come from shrugging your shoulders. As you sway forward, you should use the straight arm to lift you butt off the bed.

Now for the care giver (CG) your job is to help maintain balance and keep them from falling forward or back. You will not be doing any lifting. Facing the patient, you should plant your feet about shoulder width apart and facing the patients feet. You can be in a slightly knee bent position. The object here is to push your knees into the patients knees so when they sway forward, their knees lock with yours and start to straighten up. This will give a bit of balance and help with the transfer. Eventually when the patient is stronger they will do the transfer without you.

For the first few times you could use a transfer board or whatever to span the hole between the bed and chair.

Back to the patient.

By now you should be use to swaying forward onto straight arms. Each time you move forward, you should ram into the straight arms and like a pole vault, lift yourself up. The real lift comes from falling forward, head down to really lift the bum. That's why it is nice to have a CG lock your knees so you don't slide onto the ground. With a big effort, sway forward, throw your head downand lift your bum into the air. While you are in the air. swivel your butt across the gap (or onto the transfer board) and fall back onto your butt. As you get better and better, you will be able to move greater distances sideways.

The secret is in dropping the head down and lifting the butt up. You can't get the butt up very high without getting your head forward.

I know this is a quick and dirty explaination, but it should work.