What are the day-to-day concerns when switching from manual to power wheelchair? - Elaine Rogers, PT

We hear frequently, “I’m going to lose all my strength; I need to stay in a manual wheelchair to keep my strength. And the way I look at it is when I’m walking for the purpose of getting to my job, I’m not walking for exercise. I’m walking for the purpose of getting to my job. Every day I need to go and exercise. I don’t , but I should. And I should be doing three to five times a week of 30-40 minutes of exercise, because as we know from the ambulatory population that the average day of walking we do is not enough for exercise. So in the same way you need to look at when you’re using a power wheelchair the purpose of the power wheelchair is to get from point A to point B, to be successful at the activities you need to do, and exercise is its own entity. You need exercise outside of the mobility you’re using the wheelchair for. And you need to find a way and you need talk to whoever is prescribing you the wheelchair about ways you can actually stay healthy.