| PUSH by Anthony Rain Starez |
 Pushing this chair is far from similar to the act
of walking, even though they both are used as mobility. Walking is a smooth natural act
that is accomplished with little planning or thought, while lending itself to style,
giving a person a unique distinction. A person’s walk can sometimes display
attitude, even moods. The energy walk is fast, confident and bold. Some people
lope along with a casual shrug. Then there’s an aggressive walk that, at
times, intimidates. Other times that incredibly complicated physical task can be employed
to lure the opposite sex. Uh, maybe the same sex!Yes, walking can be the sexiest utility around when performed by the right person!! I assure you pushing a wheelchair, as a c5-c6 Spinal Cord injury, is altogether different. In my case, there is little style, only survival. My ability to push is amazing enough since I’m missing 80% function of most of my muscles, including many arm muscles. Encountering small ramps, or hills, requires a whole different approach than pushing flat hard surface, like a grocery store. In a store, I look almost normal pushing with plenty of speed and agility. In contrast, pushing any kind of hill forces me to use the inside of my wrist against the push-knobs on the handrims, pulling with my biceps, then releasing only to reach back and push another knob before the chair rolls backwards. This can be very tricky, and it definitely takes focusing, therefore I don’t talk much during this. Pushing carpet, even thin carpet with low padding can give me hell. For one, it takes much more technique to shove harder on the knobs without hands slipping, which can cause loss of balance, which can cause you to fall. See, things can snowball fast. Thankfully over the years I’ve mostly perfected the push, and adjusted the chair, to compensate for the inevitable times when my hand misses, or slips, off the push knob.
This attempt to describe complications from pushing only scratches the surface, but my goal was to articulate the details of being a c5-c6 SCI that’s pushes a chair for mobility.
It sure ain’t walking!! |
Obviously, I’m lower to the ground than people standing, so
it’s no surprise that it’s harder to have great face-to-face conversations with
people, especially if I’m with a group of people, and/or it’s loud. Being a quad
means less speaking power, in most cases, since all the breathing muscles that surround
your ribcage and chest don’t work anymore. Only the Diaphragm that expands as you
inhale works good, but it’s not as good at exhaling. With time, I’ve gotten very
good in the strength of my voice. However, if you give me a night of trying to have
conversations with a group of friends talking while music plays loudly in background, and
I get worn out quickly.