If you’ve heard of Loopwheels, but aren’t quite sure how they work, or whether they’d actually make a difference for you, you’re not alone. Many wheelchair users experience daily vibrations and jolts without realising the long-term impact on their body.
From tarmac to kerbs and cobbles, over carpets and uneven pavements, wheelchairs are constantly dealing with surfaces that transmit shock through the chair and into your body. This happens even on seemingly smooth surfaces. Even when those vibrations are hardly felt, they contribute to discomfort, pain, and fatigue.
That’s where built-in suspension comes in.
Loopwheels are designed to prevent vibrations and shock from reaching your body: they act as shock-absorbers. This article aims to help you better understand Loopwheels and why shock absorption matters.
How do Loopwheels act as shock absorbers?
Most standard, manual wheelchairs do not come with suspension, often prioritising a lightweight design and compact size instead to keep the wheelchair frame easy to maintain and transport. These are important factors for equipment you use everyday.
But other factors have to be considered too. If you’re suffering a lot of pain or fatigue, you may be happy to compromise on weight, if it means you feel less pain or fatigue.
Loopwheels can add suspension to a manual wheelchair incredibly easily; they are compatible with the vast majority of manual wheelchairs, making them a simple swap for a smoother ride. Whilst Loopwheels are heavier than spoked wheels, they are typically much lighter than suspension wheelchair frames. You’ll be sacrificing some lightness for comfort, but if you’re suffering from pain and fatigue, greater comfort counts!
Loopwheels’ unique design replaces traditional spokes with three springs between the hub and the rim. These springs are the shock absorbers. Sitting between the central hub and the outer rim of the wheel, the springs allow the hub to ‘float’ within the wheel. They work together to adjust constantly to whatever terrain you’re on, absorbing the shock so that it is not transferred to the seat of the wheelchair without losing power or momentum. The video below illustrates the wheels functioning:
These springs have been painstakingly designed, tried and tested over many years to provide the best suspension solution on a wheelchair. We worked with experienced wheelchair users and experts in high tech composite materials to develop and evolve the design over more than ten years.
Why is shock absorption important?
Exposure to vibration and shocks which affect the whole body has been known to cause harm to the human body for very many years. Whole Body Vibration (WBV) is the technical term used to describe vibration and shock. It is characterised by low-impact, long-term vibration and high-impact, sudden shocks. There are international standards to set guidance and limits on how much people should be exposed to “whole body vibration” in the workplace, and in cars and other vehicles.
Studies show that using a wheelchair exposes you to levels of vibration that cause long-term harm, but most wheelchair users haven’t had a choice in this, as you need a wheelchair for personal mobility. Limiting vibration exposure has been really hard to achieve, although carbon fibre wheelchairs can help.
Between 2021 and 2024, Loopwheels were independently tested by a US research team to evaluate the effectiveness of in-wheel suspension, and these studies concluded that Loopwheels significantly reduce vibration and shock, and have a positively beneficial effect for wheelchair users, even when propelling manually at slow speed. These effects are likely to be even greater for people using a power add-on or e-bike.
Wondering what customers think?
If you want to hear about people’s personal experiences with Loopwheels, you can see what our customers have to say about Loopwheels here.
How do I know if Loopwheels shock-absorbing suspension is for me?
We understand that people may be curious about how Loopwheels feel to use, or about how much of a difference they can really make, which is why in the UK we offer trials of our wheels!
We run a commitment-free trial scheme where for the price of shipping, you can try a pair of Loopwheels on your own chair for two weeks. During these two weeks we recommend that you try to get out to paths which you know are uncomfortable, as well as routes which you take every day, to feel the difference our wheels can make.
If you use a power attachment, you can (and should if you can) use this alongside your trial wheels. You may feel more benefit when travelling at faster speeds, as normally this is where vibration and shock is at its highest.
Now, the next question is, which model is right for you?
Check out our guide here or give our friendly small team a call on 01623 860909.