Sports wheelchairs are now more common than ever.  From hand cycling and basketball models to tennis and rugby, there are a wide-variety of sports wheelchairs available to athletes with disabilities.  Sports wheelchairs come in a variety of shapes, sizes, prices and styles.  Below is a quick and easy guide to finding the best sports wheelchair for your athletic endeavors.

What's Your Adaptive Sport?
Are you a casual handcycler or a downhill racer?  Do you play tennis or tear up the basketball court?  Are you a rugby bruiser or a swashbuckling fencer?  What sport you play is the major component in deciding what type of sports wheelchair you need.   While some sports wheelchairs may be multi-purpose (such as court chairs that can be used for both basketball and tennis) other sports are best performed with specifically designed sports wheelchairs. 

What’s Your Intensity Level?
If you’re a beginner, it’s recommended that you pick a more flexible sports wheelchair that can be easily adjusted for other sports.  As long as you have a lightweight manual wheelchair, you will be able to participate in most wheelchair sports.  However, there are many multi-sport wheelchairs that are available to allow you increased performance with cross-sport adaptability.

Once you begin to focus on a certain sport, you’ll find that the state-of-the-art technology available in many sports wheelchairs can greatly improve your ability to compete.  Extra wheels, an enhanced center of gravity and special accommodations for single or double amputees are just some of the features available in more advanced sports wheelchairs.

What’s Your Budget?
Sports wheelchairs range from $1,000 to $5,000.  If you’re simply looking to get into the action, there are plenty of low cost options.  However, if you’re a pro looking for the extra edge, you’ll likely have to shell out some serious cash.

What Are the Rules of the Game?
If you plan on competing in an official capacity, it’s important to remember that many wheelchair sports have official regulations for the dimensions of adaptive equipment.  Make sure to review this criteria (you can likely find it online) to ensure that you equipment is legal.

Where to Buy a Sports Wheelchair?
There are a number of online vendors that offer quality sports wheelchairs.  A few to check out are:

Top End Wheelchairs
Top End Wheelchairs offer a variety of models of sports wheelchairs for racing, cycling, basketball, tennis, rugby and other sports.  It also includes a helpful “Ask an Expert Section” that gives advice from professional wheelchair athletes on how to pick out the right chair.

SportAid
According to its website, Sportaid has the largest selection of sports wheelchairs in the market.  It is also an authority on Spinery Wheeelchair Wheels.

SpinLife
Spin life carries a variety of hand cycles, court chairs, racers and other models.  According to its website, prices are guaranteed to be the lowest for sports wheelchairs.