Page 23 - Mobility Management, November 2017

Ultralight Adjustability: What’s Possible
Ludovici gave an example of how understanding the technology and options made it possible for him to adapt after a serious incident.
“A little over two and a half years ago, I had a really bad shoulder injury,” he said. “I had torn a tendon just doing general transfers, then sat up in bed one night and completely dislo- cated my shoulder. I went to the hospital and woke up the next morning with an arm brace on. They said, ‘You can’t use your arm for three months.’
“Eventually, I got a power chair to roll around in for a bit, but I was determined to stay in my manual chair, so with some help, I threw together a one-arm drive and was wheeling around in that. I also used a SmartDrive [power-assist unit] for a while.”
Ludovici used his engineering knowledge, and his wheelchair sports experience, to configure his ultralightweight chair so he could use it as he recovered.
“If I get back in my chair and elevate the seat a little bit so I’m further away from the wheel, and use a smaller wheel, I can use more of my forearms and lower muscles in my arm to propel
and keep some of the strain off my shoulder,” he said. “So I went down as low as a 20" wheel, which is a kid’s wheel. But I was able to just use my wrists to propel.
“Every few months, I dropped my seat height; I started getting
my wheels closer to [their previous] size, and now my shoulder is in pretty good shape. I can’t go and climb a big hill any more, but I use my power chair once or twice a year now. It took a good year and a half to get back to that point. Unfortunately, I’m driving a van now because it’s really tough to transfer. But I still can get around.”
Ever the engineer, Ludovici smiled at the one good result of that ordeal.
“Nicely enough,” he said, “it all kind of led to the one-arm drive we have today.”
Applying Those Technology Advances
Ludovici acknowledged that his experiences are not universal among users: “Some people don’t know the ergonomics,
the best way to get really good propulsion out of a chair, or efficiency out of it.”
Whelan agreed: Creating the technology is only half of the equation.
“The technology exists, but the knowledge to apply the tech- nology, as it always does, lags behind the technology,” he pointed out. “I do think that’s the onus — examining the aging process in a wheelchair and understanding the changes and what it means to the technology, and then educating. We need to be spending
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