Wheelchair Seat for a Comfortable Ride

January 25th, 2007

SEAT HEIGHT:

Height from the floor to the seat is equal to the distance between the heel to the inside of the knee of the wheelchair user in the sitting position minus compressed cushion’s (while sitting) thickness minus the distance between the footrest and the floor.

THE SEAT TILT:

A person with limited upper body strength requires a seat tilt. The height from the floor of the front and the rear side of the seat is taken separately to determine the tilt required for the wheelchair seat. For a flat seat, the same measurements are used for the rear end too. However, various conditions like hip flexibility, user’s stability level determines the level of tilt required. On the other hand, the more the tilt, the transfers becomes harder and spine curvature could result.

THE SEAT LENGTH & WIDTH:

The seat length should be fixed so that there is a minimum gap between the edge of the seat and the inner part of the knee when the wheelchair user sits right at the back of the seat or in his usual comfortable position. The inner part of the knee could develop sores when pressed against the edge of the seat. The seat width is determined by factors like, width of the hip plus the clothing, space to shift to relieve pressure etc

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