Page 21 - Mobility Management, November 2017

ATP Series
An Ultralight FOR
All Seasons
What Middle Age Means to the Industry’s First Longtime Ultralightweight Chair Users
By Laurie Watanabe
ltralightweight manual wheelchair users who have self propelled for years and are now middle aged (or older) are true pioneers.
With today’s sleek, elegant, minimalist ultralight frames — not to mention a host of performance accessories, from in-wheel suspensions to power-assist systems — it’s easy to forget that not long ago, expectations for self-propelling wheelchair users were quite different. Fewer people survived the initial spinal cord trauma; those who did faced sharply shortened life expectancies and far less active lives.
That makes today’s ultralight users in their late 40s and older part of a new generation — the first sizable group to enter middle age and their senior years still active and, in many cases, still wanting to self propel.
In the seating and wheeled mobility community, keeping up with these consumers is an exciting and evolving challenge.
Mobility & the Aging Process
Regardless of adages such as You’re only as old as you feel, it’s true that the aging process does impact mobility in multiple ways.
“As a person ages, so does their body,” said Tricia Garven, MPT, ATP, regional clinical education manager, Permobil. “Posture and weight distribution will most likely change, and therefore wheelchair set-up (optimal configuration and seating
product choices) should change with the aging person as well.” Declines in range of motion and muscle mass are common
parts of the aging process, but they can critically impact mobility in wheelchair users.
Angie Kiger, M.Ed., CTRS, ATP/SMS, clinical strategy and education manager at Sunrise Medical, mentioned a decline in range of motion in the shoulders of consumers who self propel, and how that’s especially significant for wheelchair users with quadriplegia: “Someone who’s a tetraplegic, who has limited mobility in their upper extremities with an injury around C6-C7, will [be impacted sooner] because they have less function compared to somebody who’s a true para and has full upper- extremity mobility. Our upper extremities weren’t created for us to get around on, so your shoulders do have a tendency to have rotator cuff issues and limited range that goes with it over time.”
She adds that clients who have self propelled for decades may also lack the “best practice” propulsion skills currently being taught to newly injured spinal cord patients.
Kiger has a friend who’s used an ultralight for nearly 40 years: “I’ve watched him propel his wheelchair, and it does not look a bit like what the University of Pittsburgh says is the most efficient way to propel. He’s been in my classes on how to efficiently propel a wheelchair, but he doesn’t do it. He says, “Aww, come
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