While most people do not give much thought to it, when you are bound in a wheelchair for even a little while, there are many problems that can present themselves. One of these potential problems is the issue of clothing becoming caught between the wheelchair and the rear wheels of the wheelchair. If the clothing should become caught tight enough, this can obviously become quite a problem for the user of the wheelchair. In some cases, this situation can even be quite dangerous, especially if the wheelchair user should be alone at the time and not able to obtain immediate assistance or free their clothing from the wheels of the wheelchair.

The good news is that there is a device that can prevent this bothersome and potentially dangerous problem from ever occurring. This device is known as a wheelchair clothing guard. While there are different types of wheelchair clothing guards on the market, the most common are found to be in the shape of a quarter circle. Furthermore, wheelchair clothing guards are made of a variety of materials.

The most common include cloth, fiber and solid plastic. When mounted, the device is applied between the wheelchair user and the rear wheels of the wheelchair in order to prevent clothing from becoming caught in the wheels. Some models, which are quite rigid in nature, will require additional mounting hardware in order to become attached to the wheelchair. It is important to keep in mind that most wheelchair clothing guards are used on manual wheelchairs.

Besides keeping clothing from rubbing against the rear wheels of the chair and potentially becoming caught in the wheels, wheelchair clothing guards also present a number of other advantages to wheelchair users. These advantages include acting as a barrier to protect the wheelchair user from debris that might be tossed into the air from the wheels of the wheelchair and assisting in pelvic containment when arms are not being used on the wheelchair.

Due to the fact that there are a few different kinds of wheelchair clothing guards on the market, it is important to keep your needs in mind when making your purchase. For example, some wheelchair clothing guards will actually fold tight when a wheelchair is folded. These kinds of wheelchair clothing guards are primarily constructed of cloth. It's not possible for the solid plastic wheelchair clothing guards to fold tight, so keep this in mind when shopping.

While there are certainly numerous advantages to adding a wheelchair clothing guard to your wheelchair, like anything else, there are also a few disadvantages of which you should be aware. These disadvantages include the fact that depending on the model you purchase, they may have to be removed in order to aid transfers and/or when folding the wheelchair.

Additionally, the wheelchair clothing guard is likely to add some weight to the chair, so be sure to keep this in mind as well. This can be a problem if the wheelchair has to be moved or transferred frequently and the extra weight is a problem for the person who is primarily responsible for lifting and transferring the wheelchair.

Even with all of the various disadvantages included, the fact that wheelchair clothing guards can prevent potential injuries, make them well worth the investment.