Panthera S3 Swing

S3 Swing

Rigid wheelchairs are lighter as a whole than folding wheelchairs, and have less flex to their frame, meaning more of your energy is directed into propelling yourself, rather than lost on the frame flexing. Roughly three quarters of active wheelchairs sold are rigid framed, as they are the obvious choice for those after the most efficient, responsive ride. However, rigid framed chairs normally have fixed fronts with footplates that cannot be moved out of the way, or at best can be flipped backwards slightly. This can cause difficulties with forward transfers for those who need to get their feet directly in front of or under the seat to get in and out of their wheelchair. The S3 Swing uniquely features both a rigid frame and swing-away legrests, giving you the advantages of both.

S3 series

The S3 Swing is otherwise a version of the popular S3 series of Panthera wheelchairs. It features Panthera’s trusted chrome molybdenum box frame that makes it incredibly sturdy yet lightweight, with a transport weight from just 4.4kg, with the wheels popped off and legrests removed.

Customisation

Panthera chairs are made a little differently from other manufacturers’ models – they are available in a small range of chassis widths, and are assembled with your selected options on (e.g. different wheels, push-handles, sideguards) and then adjusted to your dimensions. This means they are built a lot quicker than most other manufacturers’ chairs (unless you go for a different colour frame) but don’t have the same thousands of configuration variations that competitor products would have. While Panthera chairs can be made to fit most people, in some cases they won’t suit or have the configuration options you want.