How to Improve Your Transfer Skills
Being able to transfer is one of the essential skills you have to continuously improve being a person living with a spinal cord injury. Of course, depending on your level of injury, transferring out of your wheelchair may be more difficult, so for those individuals with higher-level injuries the ability to communicate how to transfer you is just as important. Some of my recommendations is based off personal preference and of course, there are other techniques and maneuvers to perform the same transfers.
One of the initial and crucial transitions involves moving from your bed to your wheelchair. Whether you are still in the hospital or at home, perfecting this transfer will help you towards regaining your independence. Being that I am a T-11/T-12 paraplegic, my injury level is low so it was expected of me to be able to transfer out of bed. I transfer by first placing both feet on the floor or on my footplate, being that my bed is pretty high, I typically put my feet on the foot plate before I pop over (pop over is a term used describe a transfer without a sliding board). The next step in my transfer process is grabbing onto the outside of my wheelchair frame, from there I lean my head forward that raises my butt and I use my foot position and legs to pivot into the chair.
Why is being able to transfer safely and efficiently important?
To answer this question, there are many reasons. Being able to safely and efficiently transfer can increase a person’s independence tremendously. For instance if you’re proficient with transferring, you are no longer limited to certain types of vehicles that have to be big enough to accommodate you sitting in your wheelchair. Also, transferring to different surfaces is a form of pressure relief, which will prevent skin breakdown. For people that are more advanced with the transfer skills, they can sit on bar stools versus staying in their wheelchair during social outings. Alternatively, you are also able to transfer on to able-body toilets if you ever need to do so.
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Since my injury, which occurred slightly over 18 years ago, other sci’s have asked me what is the most important skill I learned since being injured. To which my answer was learning how to transfer. One of the skills I teach others at the beginning of their rehab process is how to go from the floor to the chair. I feel as if people can visually see a difficult transfer it can provide them with a sense of hope and goal to get to.
For individuals who might not have the physical ability to transfer it is very important that you communicate how you want to be transferred. This is very important for situations like boarding a plane and having to sit on an aisle chair. You will have to be very specific on how you would want someone to assist you. You may even have to inform them how you want your feet positioned or your arms crossed. If your injury level is higher, it's important to become proficient in instructing individuals on the proper way to assist you.