Wheelchairs and sport

Not too long ago the expression “disabled” started to become politically incorrect - for one thing many people who were pigeon holed under this title were not fond of it, and for another many felt that they were more than capable of doing anything that a “so called able bodied” person could do.

Superficially the last statement sounds somewhat optimistic, however, taking sport as an example, with adaptations, some simple changes in rules, and Hi-Tec equipment, someone in a wheelchair can play pretty much any and all sports.

Developments in wheelchair design

Some 30 to 35 years ago wheelchairs were generally all the same, the only real difference was that some were motorized and powered by battery, however times, and wheelchairs, have moved on.

In the 21st century you can buy not just a range of different sports wheelchairs, but wheelchairs designed for specific sports like badminton, tennis or track racing. Wheelchairs like this have strong lightweight designs with unbelievable dexterity, manoeuvrability and handling. In short, they have a range of features that make them perfect for playing all kinds of different sports.

There are many different wheelchair sports and they range for static sports like archery and shooting to high speed impact sports like basketball. You can even get wheelchairs for participation in dancing!

An example – basketball

The wheelchairs that are used for basketball are light, strong and protective with leg and lower body guards that wrap around the front section of the wheelchair. Their large rear wheels slant outwards (from top to bottom) and this gives them better stability and balance. They will usually have one (or a par of) additional castor wheels at the rear of the chair to prevent it from tipping during impacts and direction changes.

Interestingly, wheelchair basketball has become a popular sport in its own right and it is now played by able bodied teams who use wheelchairs only when participating in the sport.

Basketball is of course just one of the many sports that now have specially adapted wheelchairs designed for them and you can easily find out more about the different chair types and the sports that they allow someone to play at. This page has (now removed) links to sections covering track racing, static sports and even extreme wheelchair sports. It will also tell you abut standard and motorised wheelchairs and provide some information about obtaining a wheelchair through the British National Health Service.