Sports and activity wheelchairs

In this day and age there is no reason why someone who uses a wheelchair should not be able to participate in sport. There are very few sports to which a wheelchair cannot be adapted and most sports have competitive wheelchair leagues and competitions arranged at local, national and international level. You can play for fun or be competitive at a level that suits your lifestyle.

Here are just some of the sports that you can play, at any level, using a wheelchair – Tennis, badminton, table tennis, basketball, track racing, off road racing, hockey, archery, shooting, fencing, water-skiing, bowling, football, rugby, hockey……. There are also many other Paralympics events like the javelin, the shot put and weight lifting at which a wheelchair user can compete up to international level. Pastimes like dancing can be enjoyed with a highly manoeuvrable sports style wheelchair.

What is a sports wheelchair

Sports wheelchairs have rocketed in popularity over the last decade and now you can buy either, a general purpose sports wheelchair suitable for many different sports, or a sports-specific wheelchair designed for a dedicated sport.

The feature that all sports wheelchairs have in common is that they are purpose designed for activity and action rather than for a more sedentary use. This means that they have a tough high quality construction that sees the frame made from very strong, yet very lightweight materials. These robust designs ensure that these wheelchairs are highly manoeuvrable and some can even operate on different surfaces like grass and uneven ground.

Other characteristics that make these chairs easily recognisable are the seats. These are frequently much smaller, particularly in the backrest area, than regular wheelchairs. This allows the upper body more freedom of movement when it comes to leaning, turning or twisting the body.

Sports wheelchairs do not usually have armrests as these only serve to get in the way and restrict upper body movements.

The wheelchair's frame has a distinctive appearance on most sports machines. This is partly because the design is very different to that of a standard wheelchair, but also because these chairs take advantage of the Hi-Tec frame design for maximum visual effect. This usually sees the frame finished in a bright colour enabling its unusual shape and geometry to be accentuated and enhanced to the maximum.

The other very noticeable feature of sports wheelchairs are the wheels themselves.

On wheelchairs that require fast movements and sudden changes in direction the larger rear wheels are usually splayed outwards from the top to the bottom. This gives the machine greater stability during manoeuvring and makes it less likely that it will tip over. It also changes the position of the wheelchair's centre of gravity meaning that, if it leans over on two wheels, it will be much more likely that it will right itself.

The rear wheels of sports wheelchairs can have conventional wire spokes, much larger "alloy" style spokes, or a solid construction. There can be a safety benefit in having a solid inner wheel construction and many find these wheel types more aesthetically attractive.

The front wheels of sports wheelchairs, particularly those where manoeuvrability is key, tend to be smaller than those of standard wheelchairs. They may also be positioned slightly further forward (on an elongated frame) than a conventional model. This is to help balance and because most of the weight, control and stress is directed at the rear wheels.

Different types of sports wheelchair

There are many different types of sports-wheelchair covering many different sports, but from a design and performance standpoint these machines fall into three main categories.

These categories can roughly be defined as wheelchairs that are designed for

• A stationary sport, e.g. archery.
• A speed (racing) sport, e.g. track racing.
• An active (high manoeuvrability) sport, e.g. tennis.

There is a fourth and comparatively new wheelchair category, namely

• Extreme sports, e.g. downhill racing.

You can find more details describing these wheelchairs by clicking on the links above, or by returning to the Wheelchair main index page and selecting from the wheelchair menu.

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