Page 20 - Mobility Management, January 2018

ATP Series
Material Advances
weight of the chair, the type of material you choose is just ounces of a difference,” he explained. “So it’s not a key success driver that [will determine if] you will have a highly functioning ultralight chair. The overall functionality/success will come down to the option selection. You can have the lightest carbon ber frame, but if you start adding footplates, wheel locks, aluminum backrests, etc., the overall weight of the chair will be way different.”
“We see the accessories as the more important factor of weight because the components that are added to the frame are generally what make a chair drasti- cally heavier than needed,” Srinivasan said. “We actually have our education managers travel with what we call a ‘naked’ frame to make that point. It’s just a frame with no components attached, and referrals are shocked when they
pick it up because it looks like an almost
complete chair. It really gets the audience thinking about the accessories chosen like wheels — or even backpacks loaded up with things — and how much they add to the overall equation.”
Admittedly, the one area in which an ultralight’s weight is key is during trans-
up and moving it vs. sitting in the chair and riding along.”
Said Simoneau, “An ultralight wheel- chair will shine mostly during transfers, because users might have to lift their wheelchair, and every pound of weight saved will matter. Weight is an easily
Weight added to the back of the chair (such as backpacks) will have more negative impact than weight under the seat when the wheelchair is con gured correctly —Tina Roesler
fers, such as when the ultralightweight end user is lifting the chair into and out of his or her car several times a day.
“The biggest effect I see where weight of
the chair is very important to consumers
is with transfers,” Ibarra said. “Picking it
quanti ed attribute and serves to improve
the overall performance of a wheelchair.
Every pound saved means less energy
required to propel the wheelchair, and
[could] reduce the user’s injuries due to
the propulsive effort.”
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20 JANUARY 2018 | MOBILITY MANAGEMENT MobilityMgmt.com