Folding shower chairs for travel: What are the options?

But for people who need supportive equipment, there’s an extra challenge that comes with any trip:

Packing everything they need for their usual routines.

Luckily, there’s a wide range of options for portable travel shower chairs — from the most basic solutions to the most flexible and supportive equipment.

Here’s what you need to know to make the best recommendation for your clients:

Do they need arm and back support?

If you’re helping a client with minimal mobility issues, they may only need minimal support in the shower.

For those clients, a foldable shower stool is often the most compact and affordable option.

But for some people, it won’t give them the support they need:

If they can’t support their upper body while they sit, they’ll need a folding shower chair with arms and a back — and that’s just the bare minimum.

Do they need a folding shower chair with wheels?

Transfers can be the most challenging (and potentially risky) parts of helping someone with their bathroom routine.

With a static stool or shower chair, they’ll need to set up the chair in the shower and make a transfer inside the shower itself.

That can be difficult — especially if you’re not sure what the facilities are like in the places that they’re travelling to.

With a folding shower chair with wheels, they’ll be able to make a transfer somewhere that’s easy and safe, and then travel in the shower chair to where they need to be.

This is where your options for a folding shower chair really open up — from the most basic chair that also has wheels, to the adjustable and flexible high-end folding shower chairs like the RAZ ZÜM.

Do they need a folding commode chair?

This is where a folding shower chair gets more complex — especially with the folding mechanism itself.

Some commode chairs fold up in a vertical direction (a bit like a stepladder). You’re left with a ‘packed-down’ version of the chair that’s longer than it was to start with

And that means it won’t always be easy to find space for it in a car.

The best folding shower chairs pack down in two directions: both vertically, and horizontally.

You’ll have a compact package that’s easy to handle and easy to store — which makes it a much better option as a shower chair for travel.

Do they need adjustable support?

Just like any other piece of accessible equipment, there’s no one-size-fits-all that works for every user.

While the most basic folding shower chairs will give some support, they won’t have the options and accessories that can make each client as comfortable as they can be.

Here’s what you should be looking out for in an advanced folding shower chair:

Is weight an issue?

Any good folding shower chair will pack down into a compact size.

But you’ll still be left with a considerable weight — one that may not be easy to handle and move.

The best folding shower chairs take this one step further:

As well as packing down to a small size, you also have the option of separating the chair into smaller parts.

These smaller parts take up less space — but importantly, they also split the shower chair into pieces with a manageable weight.

Our own RAZ ZÜM, for example, can be disassembled into separate parts that each weigh no more than 10kg.

So when your clients need to move their chair to and from their travel accommodation, it’s much easier to carry it in separate bags or separate trips (or between multiple people).

So which is the best folding shower chair?

We supply a huge range of shower chairs across multiple different brands at Wealden Rehab.

But there’s only one type of folding shower chair we supply — and there’s a reason for that.

The RAZ ZÜM is a complete solution that comes with every feature and option we’ve talked about today.

It covers almost everything your clients could ever need, making it a futureproof investment for any user whose needs are likely to change.

And compared to many other high-end models, it folds down (and separates) to a more manageable size and weight — which means it’s perfect for travel and convenient storage.

So if you’re working with someone who’s planning a trip, talk to one of the team for a free product assessment — we’ll be happy to show you everything the ZÜM can do.