Page 27 - Mobility Management, July 2018
P. 27

                                                 Quantum’s Edge 3 Power Base: It’s All About the Ride
When a power wheelchair base launches, the first talking points are usually all about power — drivewheels and top speed, for instance.
While those aspects are important, full-time power chair users, particularly those who need the full function- ality of a Group 3 wheelchair, know that the new power base’s ultimate success also depends on more intricate details, such as ride quality.
So that’s what Quantum Rehab focused on in devel- oping the Edge 3 power base.
What Power Chair Users Want
Mark Smith, GM/PR for Quantum Rehab, said the Edge 3, which launched in early June, “is not a new base; it’s
a better base. You might say it’s the Edge 2 plus, the ‘plus’ being what consumers wanted even more of in their base.”
Smith speaks from expe- rience. He has cerebral palsy (CP) and has used power wheelchairs since early childhood. The “more” that consumers wanted, he explained, referred mainly to the power base’s ride quality.
Jay Brislin, MSPT, VP of Quantum Rehab, noting the functional and clinical aspects of the Edge 3,
pointed out three key ways the base focuses on clients. “Number one is ride comfort. People don’t want to be jarred left and right. Obviously, no one wants to feel the lumps and bumps of everyday life. So a major priority of
ours was to smooth out the ride dramatically, to build a softer ride.
“Secondly, stability towards trunk control and towards hand control — towards reducing spasticity. Having cerebral palsy like Mark does makes him very prone to startle reflexes. Anytime one’s body is jostled around, spasms and tone can kick in. We have heard over and over again — whether it’s from someone with quadri- plegia with spasticity to someone with CP with spasticity,
to someone with muscular dystrophy who lacks muscle tone — being able to control stability over rougher terrain, obstacles
and thresholds is
a priority among consumers.
“And we want
to make sure that
people who are
driving with specialty
controls have
the most control
possible. Consumers
have expressed that there’s nothing worse than driving on a bumpy sidewalk with, say, a head array and being jostled so that you don’t feel in control of your chair.”
Suspension Damping
Ride quality is well known in mainstream marketing, thanks to automotive manufacturers. In commercials, they boast of ride quality as their cars navigate high- ways, and happy families smile from the passenger seats.
To full-time power chair users, however, ride quality is more complex.
“Suspension is really about providing the most comfort- able, safest, functional seating environment possible for that end user,” Brislin said. “We wanted to address the movement going on within the power base itself. Caster arms moving up and down. Drive wheels moving up
and down. All that movement in the chair itself obvi- ously lends itself to movement traveling to the user. A major priority was to take the natural ‘chattering’ out of mid-wheel technology.”
Quantum’s answer is its upgraded SRS (Smooth Ride Suspension) system, which directly addresses the move- ment that occurs within the power base as its user drives.
“Traditionally on six-wheel mid-wheel power chairs — not just ours, but on many in the industry — whenever you’re only using a spring-based suspension on the primary casters as well as the drive wheels, any time there’s front caster arm movement — for example, if you go on a van ramp — it’s going to compress springs as you go up,” Smith said. “Once you get to the top of the ramp and into the van, your front-wheel casters go from
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