individuals whereas walker is the stable device which is used by the patient to stand and
give support to the patient to walk and stretchers are mobility devices used to transport the
patients from one place to other. These medical mobility aids are used in hospitals and
clinics for helping the patients. Stretchers are simple in construction and the patient needs
the support of an assistant to transport from one place to other. Whereas walker is used by
patient to walk without any help of any assistance and wheelchair is designed in such a way
that either patient can control the device manually or with the help of someone’s
assistance. According to Peter Axelson[1], selection of an appropriate wheelchair will lead a
comfortable living to the user. Performance, safety and dimensions are the three categories
which have to be considered while selecting a manual or powered wheelchair. An excellent
approach to the wheelchair selection is to set priorities based on user’s mobility and seating
needs. It is highly recommended that a novice can consult with there habilitation specialists
in order to select the appropriate wheelchair. James Kauzlarich [2], says self excited
vibrations one of the most interesting topics in the field of vibrations and is the science
prevailing caster wheel shimmy. Self excited vibration is characterized by vibration that is
produced by the motion of the system like wheelchair speed. It can be observed that in
most of the cheapest wheelchairs, the design of the casters makes use of a sliding frictional
damper in the spindle support to improve the shimmy characteristics. Understanding the
theory of damping for the casters show how shimmy prevention works in ultra-light and
powered wheelchairs.
*GENERATION OF PRODUCT IDEAS*
Lack of access to mobility for people with disabilities, particularly in less-resourced settings,
continues to be widespread. Despite challenges to wheelchair delivery, the benefits to
health, employment, social integration and life satisfaction are apparent.
Disability literally refers to some kind of restriction or lack of ability to perform an activity in
the manner considered normal for a person in human society. As a result of disability the
patient finds it increasingly difficult to carry on his day-to-day activities including that of
daily living. The activities of daily living refer to practical skills needed to care for one’s basic
survival needs and to function in the society.
Disability serves as a multi-definition that is associated with people who have mental,
physical and intellectual challenges. Disability has also been classified into biomedical and
social modes. In reference to biomedical modes, it means disability that accredited to
medical challenges and social modes refer to disability that is associated with social
challenges. Literary disability can be defined as ‘‘a fixed condition of preset illnesses which
cannot be changed.’’ (Smith, 2009) This definition may have been debatable because the
advancement of technology has brought about positive development to medicine. And this
has further brought about changes to the world of disability. This can be associated with
disabilities that have been corrected by medical procedures. To this end, disability can also
be defined as any form of impairment that negatively affects the ability of a person to
function by and large.
People who have walking disabilities unfortunately don’t have the chance to experience
walking. As for us, we walk for a living and with that we thought about how fortunate we
are to be able to walk, and we wanted those disabled people to experience something that
they would dream of doing. This project is developing a modern wheelchair for easy
transport of handy cafe and injured persons. We could improve our wheelchair/crutches by
making it simpler so the crutches won’t be so difficult to take out of handles of the
wheelchair. We could also improve it by making the wheelchair/crutches more comfortable
by adding cushions or pillow pets.We thought of a bunch of ideas but we thought this idea
was best because we thought people that have a hard time walking or can’t walk at all,
would learn from their experience from using our convertible wheelchair. Canes, crutches
and walkers can be used with or without orthoses to normalize gait pattern, reduce energy
expenditure, and enhance balance, safety, and mobility. These aids can be considered
extensions of the upper limbs; therefore, the maintenance of upper limb strength and range
of motion can prolong their use. Device selection is based on strength, tone, and range of
motion in the trunk and upper and lower extremities, degree of body weight support
needed, degree of fatigue present, rate of disease progression, individual desires and goals
and economic capabilities. Training by a physical therapist on any aid prescribed is
recommended.
In general, canes provide the least support for gait stability and can be recommended for
individuals with mild lower extremity weakness or balance impairments. Canes can be
wooden or aluminum, solid or adjustable height, with one or four points of contact with the
ground, and with narrow or wide bases. Grips on handles can be enlarged to accommodate
handgrip weakness. A cane should be held in the arm opposite the weakest side and should
be fitted for 20 degrees of elbow flexion. One should lead with the stronger limb on flat
ground and in ascending stairs and with the weaker limb when descending stairs. Quad
canes, which provide four points of contact with the ground, can be of standard or wide
base, and provide additional stability as compared with standard canes.
*IDEA SCREENING*
The idea is to have a modified wheelchair that can be folded and converted into a crutch so
that it is easy to take stairs as well for the user
Budget: Estimating the cost for developing thr product, the budget must include marketing
Cost. The budget of our product will not be very much only modifications are done in the
manufactured wheelchair. We will definitely keep the price of the product very low so that
it can be used by every classes of disabled people.
Value: The product not only satisfy the need of the disabled people but also very budget
Friendly. People who have alking disabilities unfortunately do not have the chance to
experience walking. As for us, we walk for a living and with that we thought about how
fortunate we are to be able to walk and we wanted those disabled people to experience
something they would dream of doing. So is going to be a very valuable product for the
users.
Feasibility : This idea is to have a modified wheelchair that can be folded and converted into
crutches so that it is easy to take stairs as well for the users. With the help of our product
the users will be benfitted as they can use stairs without any kind of depency on anyone.
Therefore we are providing a very feasible product to our customers.
Risk: There is a danger of slipping and causing additional injury to thr disabled users. On the
other hand the users may not accept the product due to its new modifications. There are
not very severe risks against our product.
Strengths: The product has a very few limitations are it has many pros about this
innovation. Our study was intended to develop a concept of wheelchair convertible
stretcher with the motivation of saving space and prevent exertion of patient as well as by
making sure that thepatient does not get hurt. The mechanism and safety of patient were
our main priorities whiledesigning the conceptual model of wheelchair convertible
stretcher. Our study shows that it ispossible to save 80% space by using wheelchair
Convertible stretcher rather than using wheelchairwalker and stretcher separately. This
design eliminates the steps of shifting patients fromwheelchair to stretcher and vice versa
as nurturing of disabled people becomes difficult. Our designwill thus be an efficient
mobility aid for the medical field Adding the features of Walker would makethe product
more reliable be much more innovative and can satisfy the needs of the patients tomuch
higher extent.