You can use bungee toggles and reinforced hose to hold walking sticks under a rigid frame wheelchair. It allows easy access and safely secures the sticks.
If you use wheelchair and can walk with sticks there are few standard ways to hold walking sticks. The 2 most common are:
- A leather strap on the back and small plastic cup below.
- A wheelchair bag with walking stick holders.
Both standard options have serious problems. The sticks are difficult to reach while sat in the wheelchair. They don’t hold the sticks securely. This is especially true when going down curbs. The bag only works on wheelchairs with push handles.
The alternative I use stores the sticks under the wheelchair. It uses bungee toggles and optional sections of hose to hold the sticks.
Method
To hold each stick you will need:
- One length of bungee that can wrap around the stick just over twice.
- A small plastic ball for the toggle
- Fixings to fit the wheelchair (electrical tape and cable ties).
- Optional reinforced hose and clamps for the rear of the wheelchair.
On my wheelchair I use approximately a 30cm length of 4mm thick bungee with a 21mm diameter ball. I use a short length of reinforced hose with an internal diameter of 50mm. The hose I use is normally used on boats.
As shown in the picture the toggles are made from a loop of bungee knotted in a small ball. The loop should fit snugly around the walking sticks being used.
On active user wheelchairs there is normally a tension bar at the front under the seat. Attach the bungee loop to the tension bar so that it can be wrapped around a stick. I use a cable tie to attach the toggles and electrical tape wrapped around the tension bar to stop cable tie moving and damaging the bar.
On some wheelchairs you will need something to secure the bottom (middle of folding ) of the sticks. The best place to secure the end of the stick is on the back axel. You can use reinforced or armoured hose clamped to the rear axel. The hose prevents the sticks rattling and stops them going into the wheels. I attach the hose using a strong U clamp and thin foam inside. The foam prevents the hose moving and damaging the back axel.