Question: My aunt is in a nursing home where they recently carpeted the hallways and rooms. As a result, she is having difficulty maneuvering her wheelchair. She manages, but with much more effort than previously. Is there any retro-fit in wheels/tires, etc. that might help her chair to roll easier? Or, she would consider a chair upgrade. She is not interested in a power-driven chair. ~Denny

Answer: - If you try to propel your manual wheelchair on certain types of thick or plush carpets with thick under pads it can feel like moving through quick sand. However, since your aunt lives in a nursing home you are restricted to whatever type of flooring they have. The carpets are new so they may eventually settle better with time. The problem with conventionally laid carpeting is that it often tends to roll up after constant wheelchair traffic. Heavy rolling wheelchairs often cause carpets to bunch up. Carpeting is usually installed by nailing it to a track at the edges of a room, but the carpet in the middle of the floor isn't held down which causes it to bunch up. One solution to this is to glue the entire carpet to the under pad. If your aunt still has a problem after a month or so, you could try using different wheels or tires on the wheelchair to help solve the problem.