During a pregnancy, can I push or propel a wheelchair?
Manual Labor While Pregnant
Pushing a wheelchair while being pregnant is not a good idea because it requires doing manual labor where you need to push the assistive device and the weight of the user. For some pregnant women, it is prohibited to do manual labor during pregnancy including pushing and pulling equipment or heavy devices. Restrictions on weight bearing during pregnancy may also depend on how far along you are in the pregnancy. While someone who is 3 months pregnant should definitely avoid any sort of weight bearing manual labor, there is a grey area for women who are currently only weeks into their pregnancy, you should definitely ask your doctor to confirm if you can lift or perform manual labor.Caregiver Currently Pregnant
If you are currently employed as a caregiver, and you are also dealing with pregnancy, it is safe to say that you will not be able to do your daily caregiver activities on a normal basis. More than likely you will not be able to push a wheelchair, lift a wheelchair, or do any type of weight bearing activities.Lifting a Wheelchair During Pregnancy
If you are currently expecting a child, lifting a wheelchair might not be the best idea. Any type of weight bearing activity should be filtered out of your daily activities. Does this only apply to heavy objects? There is a discrepancy regarding lifting heavy things during pregnancy. If you are late into your pregnancy, there is certainly a diminished ability to safely lift a heavy object, because of the pregnancy effects on a woman, the center of gravity and the balance that you can usually have control over, can change, as would your muscles and tendons which would aid in lifting heavy things. The current recommendation is that the maximum load a pregnant woman should lift in late pregnancy should be reduced by 20 to 25 percent from that which she was able to lift in her pre-pregnancy state.Wheelchair User That Is Pregnant
If you are a wheelchair bound individual who is currently dealing with pregnancy, it is definitely a unique situation to be in. A wheelchair user who is pregnant should certainly not lift any heavy objects during pregnancy. In this case, you would not be the person that is pushing a wheelchair, so most of the information in this article does not apply to a wheelchair bound pregnancy.