Seating and Wheeled Mobility

Fully revised and updated in its second edition, Seating and Wheeled Mobility: A Clinical Resource Guide presents clinical assessment considerations when working with a person with a disability who may need wheelchair seating for postural support and to protect skin integrity, or a wheelchair base to best meet dependent or independent mobility needs.

The book provides a wide spectrum of information from foundational information for those practitioners who are new to the field to in-depth, population-specific information for practitioners who perhaps have not worked with a particular population in the past. Information sharing, opportunities for demonstration and trial, and patience on the part of the clinician working with the person with a disability are all critical precursors to the actual process of making equipment recommendations.

The book is divided into sections, each section addressing a different area of clinical practice in Wheelchair Seating and Mobility.

- The first section is an in-depth presentation of the assessment process and the critical understanding of pressure management. The range of available seating supports is presented as part of the process of selecting product involves understanding the match between the person’s need and the available technology.

- The second section focuses on postural support during a 24-hour period of time, including sitting. Three types of sitters are presented: Hands-Free, Hands-Dependent, and Prop Sitters. Night time positioning needs, in the context of a 24-hour positioning program, are also addressed. This section includes a completely updated method to measure and describe the seated person and related support surfaces needed when recommending a device.

- The third section lays the foundation for clinical decision making around the Selection and Fit of the most appropriate wheeled mobility device – manual wheelchair, power wheelchair, or scooter.

- The fourth section provides in-depth clinical applications for each category of mobility devices from manual chairs, power assist to power chairs. The importance of On Time mobility for the very young is presented; along with a chapter focusing on power seating. The final chapter in this section offers guidance in mobility skills training for both manual and power wheelchair users.

- The fifth section provides population specific information regarding the clinical application of position, pressure management, and functional mobility as it applies to the pediatric, geriatric, and bariatric populations, as well as persons with both degenerative and complex neuromuscular impairments.

- The sixth section presents additional considerations when working with persons who are aging with a disability. Other considerations include the importance of both the environment of use and the safe transport of a wheelchair in a vehicle as well as the application of the wheelchair standards test methods in the clinic.

- This second edition adds a chapter on measuring outcomes, through-out the service provision process. A new addition to this edition is a look at the Past, Present and Future of Complex Rehab Technology.

Richly illustrated throughout, this book has been carefully designed to support occupational and physical therapists, complex rehabilitation technology suppliers, and third-party payers who are interested in wheelchair seating and mobility assessment and applications.