Aluminum Wheelchair Ramps
Do you need a wheelchair ramp in your home or business? Many people, especially seniors, have found that aluminum wheelchair ramps can greatly improve their mobility, especially over small staircases or curbs. In addition to seniors with limited mobility, others will experience similar difficulties with stairs, even with those with a very short series of steps. Sometimes these difficulties are permanent, and other times they are temporary, perhaps due to recovering from an injury or from surgery. Even those who occasionally need to move wheeled carts up or down these kinds of short inclines can find it very difficult to deal with getting the cart up and down the steps.
Fortunately for those who need either temporary or permanent help with short staircases, aluminum ramps can be of use for both those with wheelchairs, and those without them. Here’s how:
For People with Wheelchairs
Long or short term, many people will find themselves in need of a wheelchair, mobility scooter, or other wheeled device at some point of their life.
Although wheelchairs and other similar devices are a huge help for those who otherwise wouldn’t be able to get around too easily, they do run into issues sometimes with steps or curbs. Even a one-step curb can be difficult or impossible for a wheelchair to navigate through normal rolling.
That’s where aluminum wheelchair ramps come in. A ramp system-whether a temporary, portable wheelchair ramp, or a permanent ramp, can allow easier access to difficult areas. This is especially helpful for homes or other buildings that weren’t designed for wheelchair access. For example, a senior may live in a home that was fine until they needed a wheelchair, and now they have a hard time getting into a kitchen raised on a slight curb. A lightweight aluminum wheelchair ramp, either left permanently on the curb or carried around to wherever it’s needed, can help solve this problem! These ramps are designed to be placed so that they create a gentle, gradual incline leading up the steps. This ramp would then allow a wheelchair or other mobility device to roll up and down the incline more easily, providing additional freedom and independence for someone who might otherwise need more help than usual to get around.
Why aluminum wheelchair ramps? Well, aluminum is a helpful metal since it can be both durable and lightweight. This allows it the weight capacity to support a wheelchair and makes it fairly easy to move around and install when it needs to be moved. Wooden ramps can also be installed, often permanently, and in outdoor locations, but aluminum wheelchair ramps are much easier to work with (and can even be cheaper, because aluminum is also easy for manufacturers to make!).
Therefore, an aluminum ramp is usually cheaper and more portable than most other ramps. Although they will not help you get up and down massive flights of stairs, especially steep ones, these ramps can be a huge help for those who need to get their wheelchairs or mobility scooters up and down short steps, whether indoors or outdoors.
However, there’s another side to this: wheelchair ramps can actually be useful mobility aids even for those without wheelchairs!
For People without Wheelchairs
Many seniors find that stairs become harder to use with age. Going up stairs is hard on the knees and joints, and even going down stairs can have similar detrimental effects. And it’s not just people who normally have mobility problems who experience this! Whether it’s going up or down stairs, there’s a big difference between walking around normally and navigating the sudden increase in elevation between stairs. Even short staircases with just one or two steps can pose a serious challenge for some, increasing the risk of a dangerous fall.
Fortunately, many shorter staircases can be easily made safer with the addition of a residential wheelchair ramp system. A portable ramp can help you get up and down small inclines without the big drop that’s associated with a stair or stairs. As long as it is installed at a slight enough angle, an aluminum wheelchair ramp can be placed over these smaller staircases to make it easier and safer for those with limited mobility to get up and down the incline. Whether you’re concerned about safety issues associated with these potential fall risks, or simply want to make the process of getting up and down those elevation changes easier, an aluminum wheelchair ramp or another handicap ramp can help with that.
Wrapping Up
So, if you use a wheelchair or mobility scooter or simply want to make short staircases a little easier to use, consider looking into aluminum wheelchair ramps for your home! Take the time to look into handrail options and various wheelchair accessories. If you own a place of business or a home where people with these needs might visit, consider using either a permanent ramp or temporary lightweight aluminum ramps to help them access your property.
