In the world of wheelchair seating and positioning, we do not have a single consensus of what a neutral seated posture looks like. The seated posture is also influenced by the task at hand. We sit very differently if we are typing at our desk vs. watching a football game on the couch. Most of us move in and out of various positions throughout our day. For the wheelchair user, a single position has to provide postural support for stability, function, and alignment; provide a position of rest; and distribute pressure to maintain comfort and reduce pressure risk as frequent positional changes may not occur. A primary goal of positioning…

Kylie is a young adult who has cerebral palsy. She has used a power wheelchair and speech generating device from a very young age. She loves the theatre! Kylie has high muscle tone and has a history of breaking items on her manual and power wheelchairs. One item that was chronically out of alignment was her head support. Kylie uses a Stealth Products i2i head support and, while this meets her postural needs, her extreme tone would result in movement of the mounting hardware. As a result, her Mom was constantly adjusting the hardware, which was subsequently leading to wear and tear of the bolts. Eventually these would become stripped…

In previous blogs, we have discussed posterior and anterior pelvic tilt causes, interventions, and goals. In this blog we will address rotation of the pelvis. When the pelvis is rotated, one anterior superior iliac spine (ASIS) is forward of the other. As a result, the client may appear to have a leg length discrepancy as one knee may be more forward of the other. The client will most likely face forward and the spine may rotate with the pelvis as our brain is wired to view the world face-on – rotating the spine in relation to the pelvis. Causes and Interventions Range of Motion Limitations Pelvic rotation is most often…