Hello again everyone welcome back to our channel. So today I want to show you how
you can transfer to and from the sofa from your wheelchair, so let's get to it!
Okay, so to get on to the sofa you want to position your wheelchair next to the
sofa angled slightly towards it like so and like with any transfer the first
thing you need to do is shift your bottom forward in the chair and put your
feet in the position they want to be
So, lift and slide forward in the chair. Feet off the footplate and because my bottom
is turning this way I want my feet to be sort of angled away so that they don't
get twisted as I go down. So something like that it's fine I then want to shift
myself towards the corner of the chair using one fist on the sofa and one hand
on the wheel like so. I then move this hand onto the chair
this hand onto the sofa giving me enough space here to move into and then when
I'm ready I just lift and slowly lower myself down, like so. And you don't need
to worry too much about over balancing because the sofa's got a back to it and
you're not going to go anywhere really. And also, if you crash down hard it's a
soft surface that your bum is crashing onto so you don't need to worry about that either
it's quite easy to go down and it's quite safe to go down.
So, sofa transfers are a bit tricky for two reasons the first one is sofas
are often quite low to the ground which means it's quite a big transfer you need
to do to get back up into your chair and the second reason is generally sofas are
quite soft so when you're trying to push off the sofa
sometimes your hand can sink really far into it and it you struggle to get a
good lift off that. So we're fairly lucky here in that respect that this sofa is
quite firm so it's a bit easy to do the transfer but I have been on other sofas
where it's a lot more difficult. So getting back up into the chair
you kind of do the same thing but in reverse so the first thing I want to do
is move my bottom as close to the chair as I can get it. So, one fist on the
chair and one fist on the sofa, move my bottom here so it's close to this corner to
avoid the wheel. I want to make sure my feet are angled correctly so again
pointing somewhere in this direction not too close to the chair but not too far
away either because you don't to be pulled out but the same time you don't
want your legs to fall away. And then when it comes to the transfer the same
with most transfers you've got one fist on either side it's one where you're going
one where you're coming from I need to push on both arms and then I need to
throw my head down to lift my bum up high enough to get onto the chair.
So, when we combine it all together hopefully it'll look something like this
and straighten yourself up. These transfers are quite tricky and often it
does take me a few times to get it right so don't be put off if you can't get it
the first time and now I'll go through a couple of ways that you can make it
slightly easier if you're struggling. OK, let's head back down. So the first way to
make it easier is pushing off something a bit higher and a bit firmer so for
most sofas you can use the armrests so if I shift myself over close to this
armrest and bring the chair close as well I can now use the armrest to push
off and the chair this gives me a bit more height but also it's a bit firmer
than the sofa so my hand doesn't sink in as much and that just overall makes the
transfer a lot easier. So, something like this
and we're in. So the next way to make it slightly easier is if you've got someone
to help you. So Claire, can you come in? So let me just transfer down again so we're
on. We're gonna set up in the same way as we would normally so moving my bum as
close to the chair as I can and I'm gonna have my hands in the same position
and what Claire's gonna do she's gonna come on the sofa behind me she's gonna
hold my hips and I'll count her in and when we go she's gonna guide my hips up
onto the chair at the same time I'm doing my push and moving my head forward
and we're gonna do it all together so are you ready Claire? So on three one two
three... There we go, easy as that. So just make sure your helper doesn't overdo it
because if you're not careful they can tip you all the way forwards and off the
sofa say just a gentle a gentle guide into the chair will be enough. So
that's how you can transfer between a sofa and a wheelchair if you liked the
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to you thanks for watching see you next time bye