How to Make Wheelchair Armrest Covers

When your arms are in constant contact with the armrests on a wheelchair, you run a risk of injury. Pressure sores are painful and occur on areas of the body that repeatedly come in contact with hard surfaces in the external environment. Continual contact with hard surfaces, like that of a wheelchair armrest, can result in tender skin, friction sores, and such sores can worsen over time. Adding a couple of wheelchair armrest covers to the chair protects your skin and helps to alleviate potentially painful issues. Wheelchair foam armrests can be made with inexpensive materials.

Things You'll Need

• 2 pieces Polyethylene foam pipe insulation
• 1 yd. Vinyl
• 8 Four-part gripper snaps
• Scissors
• Tape measure
• Automatic handpress snap machine
• Disappearing ink marking pen
• Exacto knife

Show More

Instructions

• 1

  Take up the tape measure and measure the length and width of your wheelchair armrest; make a note of the measurements. Take up a piece of foam pipe insulation and cut it with the Exacto knife to the same specifications as your armrest.

• 2

  Separate the foam down its pre-existing, lengthwise opening, and position onto the armrest. Repeat this process for the second wheelchair armrest.

• 3

  Add 2 inches to the width and 1 inch to the length of the dimensions of your armrest calculations. Measure the vinyl and mark the vinyl with the disappearing ink marking pen with these new dimensions; Cut out the measured section and repeat so that there are two, separate vinyl pieces.

• 4

  Measure along the long edge of one vinyl section 1.5 inches inward from the outer edge and mark with the disappearing ink pen. Measure from the first point you created another 1.5 inches and create a second mark. Repeat this process two more times along the same edge.

• 5

  Flip the vinyl piece around so that the second long edge is facing you. Make four marks 1.5 inches apart along the edge. Repeat this process for the second piece of vinyl so that you have made sixteen marks in all: eight marks on each piece of vinyl.

• 6

  Take up the automatic handpress snap machine and the 4 part gripper snaps and put a snap top along four of the marks along the edge of one vinyl piece. Flip the piece around and handpress the four bottom clasps into the vinyl. Repeat for the second vinyl piece.

• 7

  Slip the vinyl fabric over the pipe insulation with the snaps facing downward. Snap all of the snaps closed. Repeat for the second wheelchair armrest cover.