Why People Drive Mobility Electric Scooters - Surprising Medical Reasons

spinal stenosis

The popularity of mobility electric scooters is exceeding all expectations. In fact, many people are using them for non-medical reasons, just for the convenience of going shopping, or see a movie or to visit their friends. That is even when they have no trouble walking at all. But what are the surprising medical reasons people quote for their use of mobility electric scooters? While the usual reasons, such as injury or loss of a limb are well understood, there are several surprising medical reasons why people use their scooters. They include Bone Spurs, Spinal Stenosis, and a variety of Breathing Problems. Let's look into these.

Bone Spurs

Bone spurs are outgrowths out of the normal bone. Despite the sound of the word, they are not necessary spiky. They are usually smooth. The causes of bone spurs include excessive rubbing or pressure on the bone. As a countermeasure, the bone tries to heal itself and grows out. Thus the bone spur occurs. Bone spurs are frequently found in places where cartilage is worn out, or at the edges of bone joints. Bone spurs usually cause a lot of pain when walking or even standing so people who have developed bone spurs like to use mobility electric scooters for their daily activities, even as mundane as walking inside their house. Of course, for trips outside the house, a mobility electric scooter becomes indispensable.

Spinal Stenosis

Spinal stenosis is a narrowing of the spine column either in the neck or the back regions of the spine. The narrowing causes pressure on spinal nerves, and, as a consequence, limitations in mobility such as walking, or moving arms and legs, can occur. Typically, numbness, cramping, and weakness in the legs would occur, and become gradually more pronounced. At some point, walking becomes increasingly difficult and a mobility electric scooter becomes necessary.

Breathing Problems

Breathing problems come in different varieties. They can be a consequence of stenosis, or narrowing of the breathing tubes, such as bronchial stenosis, or narrowing of one or both of the upper breathing tubes. They can be a consequence of COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which can derive from chronic bronchitis, or from emphysema, or overall deterioration of the lungs. The latter is frequently a consequence of excessive smoking habit. Sometimes chronic bronchitis and emphysema occur simultaneously. Regardless, a person diagnosed with COPD will have breathing problems, or difficulty breathing. This in turn will slow down their metabolic processes, and make walking or even standing up for extended periods of time difficult. Many COPD sufferers appreciate an electric mobility scooter simply for the ability to sit down in its comfortable chair. On top of that, it does take some energy to operate an electric mobility scooter, but it takes by far less energy than walking.

These are a few surprising, yet quite frequent reasons why people use electric mobility scooters. While their disease may not take all their ability to walk away, it may make it difficult to walk longer distances or to stand up for a long periods of time. The presence of a comfortable chair that's always there for you on the electric mobility scooter is soothing. Plus, with just a few presses of a button, you could move and drive places you need to go. If you know someone who was diagnosed with bone spurs, spinal stenosis, or breathing problems, and you want to help them, maybe you could look into introducing them to the benefits of a mobility electric scooter.