AGILITY® Aluminum Series

Understanding How Children Gain Independent Mobility

Part2 in our blogseries focusing on Pediatric Mobility Solutions and the TiLite Pilot. See Part 1 here.

Last week we took a look at the several limitations in the overall design of traditional pediatric self-propelled manual mobility. From overall weight of the setup to how a short wheel base impacts stability and propulsion, these limitations can be devastating for our young clients. In order to solve these limitations, it’s important to understand how children gain independent mobility along with some of the physiology behindthe importance of improving pediatric manual mobility design.

Limitations in Pediatric Manual Wheelchair Options

Part1 in our blogseries focusing on Pediatric Mobility Solutions and the TiLite Pilot.

It has been well established that the importance of self-initiated mobility is essential to a child’s development. The ability to determine when and where you would like to move impacts multiple body systems. This self-directed mobility can positively influence a child’s ability to locate and track objects in their environment, understand movement planning, improve communication, and enhance emotional and cognitive development. With the TILite Pilot, we are creating an opportunity to support these developmental milestones through self-initiated manual wheeled mobility.

Ergonomic Seating and Manual Wheelchairs

Everyone has experienced an ergonomic seat design at some time or another. If you look at the seats in our cars, offices or even in waiting rooms ergonomic design is used because those making the chairs understand that the more the chair contours and fits a person, the less work the person must do to maintain good posture. Ergonomic seating has been underutilized in manual wheelchair design because we have customarily been dependent on cushions and backrests for postural support and positioning. We’ve also used linear seat slope as a method of providing pelvic stability, but this comes with important considerations. So, what is the difference between using traditional linear seat slope and ergonomic seating? We will take a closer look at the differences and show you why ergonomic seating is an amazing advancement in seating design for a person using a manual wheelchair.