It may be time for a mobility assessment and a face-to-face mobility evaluation with your doctor if you cannot perform your mobility-related activities of daily living (MRADLs) safely and independently in your home.
A mobility assessment tool may be as simple as a few key questions to help determine personal mobility requirements. One may investigate specific mobility aids, such as power scooters and electric wheelchairs, using information they gather from self-reported replies.
Self-Assessment Mobility Questions
1. Identifying Personal Mobility Requirements
- Whether standing, walking, or moving about the house, is there a history of tripping or falling when using your existing mobility equipment?
- Have functional restrictions impacted daily activities, group engagement, and personal care such as dressing, food preparation or feeding, toileting, or bathing?
2. Examining The Situation At Home
- Is it possible to bring mobility equipment inside the house?
- Can a caregiver assist with the manual or electric wheelchair if necessary?
- Are there any stairwells or landings that are uneven? If this is the case, a stairlift or wheelchair ramp may be beneficial.
3. Evaluating Mobility Aids That Aren’t Powered
- Are your arms and/or legs strong enough to push yourself in a manual wheelchair using a cane, walker, or crutches?
- Can you complete your MRADLs safely and in a fair amount of time while using a cane, walker, crutches, or manual wheelchair in the home?
- Did any of the non-powered mobility devices employ successfully fix mobility deficiencies in the home?
4. Assessment Of Mobility Scooter/Power Wheelchair
- Is it feasible to control a scooter’s tiller and handlebars while sitting upright (with arms extended)?
- Is it possible to effortlessly manage a scooter about the house?
- Will the scooter be able to meet mobility demands and increase MRADL performance in the home?
- If you answered no to these final mobility assessment tool questions, a motorized wheelchair could be a better option for you.
Power Wheelchairs Assist With Mobility
- Mobility devices such as power chairs are to compensate for functional constraints. That includes upper body weakness, difficulty walking, chronic and immobilizing pain. A motorized chair makes it simpler to do everyday duties independently.
- To establish a medical need for a motorized wheelchair, a face-to-face mobility evaluation in the office of a trained health practitioner is necessary.
- Additionally, evidence demonstrating the mobility impairments that the chair will assist to overcome must be included in the prescription.
With the correct equipment, you can know how to improve your comfort, expand your freedom, and revitalize your own mobility needs.
It is important to note that:
Insurance most likely will not cover your wheelchair ramp. However, you may require the need purchasing authorization, for insurance purposes. Hence, contact your medical insurance company for more information.
- When determining whether or not to cover a power scooter or a power wheelchair for daily mobility, insurance considers limitations in the shoulder and arm strength, postural endurance, range of motion, and other mobility and environmental factors.
- However, most insurance companies require a face-to-face mobility evaluation and medical assessment. These are crucial factors in receiving coverage for mobility assistive equipment that has been prescribed.
- This information aims to provide power scooter knowledge and for educational purposes only. In addition, it is not to act as a substitute for medical advice.