RGK Hi-lite

The review below was kindly provided from Kate who runs Kate's Nook website.

I'm Katie and I was born on the 20th of September 1983, making me 21. Katie means pure, strong, happy and playful. Well I may be happy, strong and playful, but pure I feel is pushing my luck! I have lived in Coventry in the West Midlands of England for my entire life.'

The site is well worth a visit!!

What is absolute when buying a wheelchair is to remember that everyone has specific, individual needs, and the only way that you can gauge how the wheelchair measures up is to try it yourself. The information below is based on my own circumstances, needs and experience.

Lightweight chairs are expensive, but worth every penny. People pay good money for a decent mattress, and buying a wheelchair that’s right for you is no less important. It might be worth making some phone calls and asking for some brochures, just to whet your appetite. I would also highly recommend trying and wheelchair before you buy it. Try to test out as many different makes and models as possible and then make an informed choice. After all, you wouldn’t buy a sofa without sitting in it first.

My RGK wheelchairI took advantage of RGK's ten-day home trial before I made my final purchase of an RGK Hi-lite. This allowed me to try out the hire chair for size. When the trial had come to an end I was able to make educated decisions about measurements, tipping points and optional extras etc.. RGK has taken the concept of 'made to measure' to an extreme and every measurement was taken to the millimetre. The result is an exceptionally comfortable chair and one in which my posture is maintained in a correct position.

Be aware when choosing measurements and try to consider everything, i.e. when choosing the width of the footrest make sure there's room for the widest shoe you're likely to wear. But also take your own needs into account - as my feet are progressively turning inwards I opted for a tight-fitting footrest that would keep my feet nice and square. I would also recommend that you choose the tightest fitting seat width so that you don't have room to slouch over to one side but do stick to even numbers like 15" or 16" so that any cushions you may buy in the future will fit snugly.

The trial also enabled me to try a new concept called 'ergo-seating'. This is where the frame is shaped to help you to sit in a position which aids trunk stability, pressure distribution and propulsion. I can tell you that that RGK's ergo seating meets all three objectives. My sitting balance is particularly poor and I have experienced pressure sores, but my trunk always feels incredibly stable and my bottom is happily pressure sore free.

As well as the practical benefits of having an ergo seat, the chair is very comfortable to sit in. The back rest is constructed of Velcro and so it is tension adjustable. This is something that I really love as my trunk is still twisted a little from Scoliosis; the backrest seems to mould to the shape of my back, offering deeper and shallower contours to match those of my back.

I like bucket seats, where the back of seat is deeper than the front and thus you sit with your bottom lower than your knees. I feel 'cradled' when sitting in this position. It stops my bum from slipping forward when propelling and it stops me from slipping forward and out of my chair if I hit a bump.

The wheelchair is awesomely stable. The wheels are cambered (they are angled by four degrees). The obvious advantage to this is that it makes the chair so much easier to turn, but no less important is the fact that it results in the chair being extremely sturdy when putting your weight on one side of the chair when transferring (I don't transfer very niftily). I suspect that the fact that it is a rigid-framed chair adds to its stability also. Another thing is to be said for rigid frames is that because there are no moving parts, they need less maintenance and should therefore last longer.

This might well be a ‘mind thing’, but the first thing I thought when I looked in the mirror (and my family have said this too) was that there was ‘less chair, more me’. It isn’t a clumsy, foreign-feeling contraption like my other chairs; it looks and feels as if it is part of me and that’s a real of a confidence boost.

Above all it's yellow, and I like yellow! To complete the look I not only had a yellow frame, but also yellow side guards and the back wheels have yellow spokes. But if you don't like yellow then RGK caters for all tastes. You can chose the colour of every component and special-effect paints are available such as splash, sparkle and iridescent.

Anti-tipperAnti-tippers have always troubled me. They're either getting caught on things or people pushing the chair are banging their feet on them. They tend to rattle like a bag of old bones too. I had a basket ball style anti-tip on my new chair, which, if you aren't familiar with basket ball chairs, is one stabiliser set in the middle. People don't knock their feet on them and neither does it rattle.

The problem with push handles is that they really inhibit your push stroke, but if you're like me and can't push yourself great distances then you do absolutely need them. The good news is that there is a species of push handle that can be unattached when they're not needed. I've even had handles in the past that were height-adjustable. I have to say the RGK's design do let my chair down as the handles are so difficult to fix onto the chair. If this is an important aspect to you then I suggest you discuss it with your dealer.

Down under bagI didn't realise how vital a calf strap is until, after eleven years, finally using a wheelchair that had one. A calf strap is a simple little Velcro strap that holds your calves in place and stop your legs from slipping backwards and off the footrest. It also helps to keep each foot and leg in line with the other.

I'm also a fan of 'down under bags'. They're extremely handy little bags that dangle from under the seat and provide a place to put purses, phones, and also a place to hide the remote control.

I also chose tyres that have a tread instead of the smooth types you usually find on sports chairs. I cannot stress how much more effective the brakes are now that I have treaded tyres. The chair does not move a millimetre when the brakes are engaged. My brakes sit under the chair and at first this is a bit fiddly but it means that you don't accidentally knock and unlock them when transferring.

As well as pressure problems, I have the added bonus of an uneven sitting posture because of Scoliosis. Over the past few years I have tried lots of different cushions, including various ROHO and Jay products, but the only one that I've been truly happy with is the Jay Xtreme cushion.

I've been using this cushion for quite a while and I'm Xtremely satisfied. A pad consisting of fluid gel cushions your bottom and moulds to its shape. It was not cheap, but it was worth every penny.

I use lots of Velcro to ensure that your cushion stays in place as I tend to tug on it when I slide-transfer. I also find that clenching my bum helps to get the circulation going after long periods of sitting and can remedy pain.

Of course, I don’t mean to say that the RGK Hi-lite is right for everybody, and indeed the infamous Quickie 2 might well be the chair for you, as could be Kuschall Competition 10 or one of Invacare's offerings. Bottom line is to keep an open mind. Ignore statistics and fashions because you’re looking for the right chair for you, not the rest of the nation. Even so I would highly recommend RGK because they can make any chair fit any person; each chair is made for each individual client and you have control over the colour and measurement of every component.

Other manufacturers

  * Quickie

  * Colours by Permobil

  * Invacare

  * RGK

  * Kuschall

  * ROHO

  * Jay

Make sure you take a look at Wheelchair Junkie for some more very useful advice from wheelchair users. There are some invaluable articles on custom made manual wheelchairs here, so make sure you hunt around. Also make sure you don’t miss youreable.com for lots of guidance on choosing a high-performance wheelchair.