Page 24 - Mobility Management, October 2018

Permobil’s TiLite Pilot:
For the Superheroes Among Us
Superheroes live beyond comic books and Hollywood blockbusters. Just look at your littlest clients, who take on everything from siblings to
math classes to vast playgrounds on a daily basis.
Look also to their loyal sidekicks (aka, parents), who must be ready in an instant to transport their kids to school, play-
dates or anywhere else a superhero might be needed. These families want more than a pediatric wheelchair. They need a vehicle that can keep up with their exploits.
Optimized Propulsion from the Start
The TiLite Pilot by Permobil is sized from 8x9" to 14x15", with 2" of seat width growth and 3" of seat depth growth. The carbon fiber frame design keeps Pilot’s weight down, and the chair has a host of kid- and family-friendly features.
Doug Garven is the TiLite Product Design Manager and designed the pilot.
Asked his goals when creating a pediatric self-propelled chair, Garven said they’re very similar to his goals when designing an adult ultralightweight: “You’re trying to get the person seated properly so their wheel access is as good as it can be to allow for an efficient push stroke given the ability level. That’s why being able to position someone in a chair is so important: Everyone is different, their physical attributes are different, and you have to accommodate that.”
Garven did, however, acknowledge additional consid- erations when designing for children, especially younger
The new TiLite Pilot: If Wonder Woman or Captain America had a wheelchair....
ones: “You’re trying to be cognizant of their physical limitations. Maybe they need the wheels a little bit closer to them. The fit is so much more important because they don’t have the arm length or the strength to accommo- date being out of position as well as an adult can.
“You’re definitely trying to get everything as close to the child as possible, especially in the smaller sizes.”
Curtis Merring, OTR, MOT, Regional Clinical Education Manager for Permobil, said learning to propel correctly from the beginning is crucial.
“We’re designing [the Pilot] and spec’ing this to ensure we have optimal center of gravity relative to the center of mass without compromising growth,” he said. “You’re giving the child optimal center of gravity from day one, meaning no matter where their arms are or how long their arms are, they’re going to be in a position where their biomechanics are optimized, and the stress on their joints is reduced.”
Growing in a Better Way
Growability is mandatory in pediatric chairs, which funding sources expect to last for years.
“You hope to get a couple of years of growth,” Garven said. “It depends; every kid has different growth spurts. [The Pilot can grow] 3" in depth and 2" in width. Most kids will hit the depth [limit] before they hit the width one, though you never know.”
There’s more than one way to grow a wheelchair. For instance, as the child’s legs grow longer, the ATP or clini- cian can move the seating backward. That means the child’s position relative to the rear wheels changes as his seating moves rearward.
“The way a chair grows typically,” Garven said, “is by moving the seat back. You only have so much length in the frame you can use. In smaller [chair] sizes, you see kids shoved so far forward in the seat that they can barely even reach the wheels, because they have such a little push stroke.”
The Pilot tackles growth differently.
“Our chair grows forward,” Garven explained. “That’s something that’s been done a lot in Europe, and it’s a smarter way to grow a chair, because it allows the kid to be in a good position from the beginning. As opposed to adjusting the backrest on the seat frame, the frame stays stationary, and the seat is growing forward.”
Optimally positioning for propulsion from the start can prevent unneeded stress to kids’ bodies, Merring said.
24 OCTOBER 2018 | MOBILITY MANAGEMENT
MobilityMgmt.com