Wheelchair transfers
Learn transfers with a therapist. This page links to their guides. It does not teach the moves.
This is not medical, legal, or financial advice. Agencies decide. We opened the public pages named here on October 14, 2026.
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United Spinal Association. They published a transfers article, not a training session. Phone 718-803-3782. A therapist still has to match the move to your body.
A transfer that is wrong for your body can cause an injury. Ask a physical therapist to train you, and to update the technique when your strength or your chair changes. Nothing here is medical advice.
Guides and videos
The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation National Paralysis Resource Center published a wheelchair transfers list in April 2024. It points to MedlinePlus, the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center, a dental-research provider guide, University of Washington videos, and Shepherd Center demonstrations, including sliding boards and lifts. The PDF says it is for education, not for diagnosis or treatment. It was supported with federal funding. That note is not an endorsement of this website.
The University of Washington Northwest Regional SCI System has a video set funded by the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation. Videos 17 through 21 are an introduction, bed chair and couch, bathroom, car, and floor. Watch them with a clinician. We are not describing the techniques.
The Model Systems fact sheet, developed with Michael L. Boninger, MD, says everyone needs individualized training with a physical therapist. It says a transfer board can help if you cannot make one smooth lift with your arms close to your body, and that bare skin should not slide on the board. It also says a patient lift is an option when a transfer is unsafe. The page says it is not a replacement for a medical professional. We are not copying the step list.
United Spinal published an article on May 31, 2019, curated by Hope Johnson, about Steven Jacobo's videos. He says incorrect transfers can cause serious injury and that the transfers he shows take very strong upper-body strength. That is one person's demonstration, not a clinical protocol. United Spinal's phone on that page is 718-803-3782. The address is 102 Duane Rd, Fort Totten, NY 11359.
Boards and lifts
The fact sheet and the Reeve list mention transfer boards and patient lifts. Medicare's durable medical equipment page is where to read whether a payer might cover equipment a clinician orders. In California, Ability Tools and the AT Exchange loan or reuse devices. This site has no product links and no affiliate shops.
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