For those with Muscular Dystrophy and other disabling conditions affecting the legs, moving a wheeled office chair across the floor can be a difficult and tiring experience.

Here are some tips and some rather remarkable results.

• Replace carpet with an industrial, low-pile type, or remove it altogether. This will reduce the amount of work required to compress the carpet as wheels roll over it. Carpets selected should feel "hard" to the touch, and be no more than 1/4" (or so) thick.



• Remove padding beneath the carpet. This will also reduce the amount of work required get wheels to roll.



• Oil wheels (without giving them a "bath") to make sure they are free running. The only oil that does any good is that which is in the minuscule space between wheel and axle. Even one whole drop is often too much. Drips are formed from "excess" oil. Use the corner of a tissue or sheet of paper towel to wick them up. (Keep in mind that excess oil will capture dust particles and carpet fuzz, and will make a very unhelpful"mud" in the machined space in which the axle needs to turn smoothly.)



• Replace small wheels with large. The mechanical advantage of doubling the wheel size is the same as doubling the length of a pry-bar. Example: A 24" long steel bar placed 4" over a fulcrum has a 5X multiplying factor; a 20 pound push will lift a 100 pound load. Using a 48" bar with the same 4" fulcrum has an 11X multiplying factor; with the same 20 pound push, a load of 220 pounds can be lifted.



• Application: We replaced the standard 1-7/8" wheels in one of our office chairs with 3" wheels and found that the effort to move the chair (on the above recommended low-pile carpet without a pad) decreased from 37 pounds to 21 pounds, a reduction of 43%.

Unfortunately, these wheels are not available at your local hardware store, even if it's a "super store" or "warehouse". We scoured the retail offerings for a month around the Philadelphia area and came up empty-handed. It was one of our maintenance guys who came up with the solution, and we ordered the wheels from one of our suppliers. Since they don't sell to the public, we'll be glad to help out by being your source of supply if you'd like to buy on our account. Give us a call at 856.783.2714 Monday-Friday, 800am-500pm Eastern Time, and ask for our design office. If we're out, just leave a message "for all other callers" in our voicemail and we'll get back to you.

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