Question
What are the benefits of a tilt in space wheelchair?
Answer
When we are seated perfectly upright, the weight of our body is distributed on our buttocks, our posterior thighs and the bottom of our feet. There is not a lot of weight that is on our trunk. By tilting someone back, we are redistributing pressure. We are taking some of the pressure off of the buttocks and thighs particularly, and putting it onto the posterior trunk and the back of the head. This helps to reduce some of the pressure underneath the buttocks and thighs.
This is important for a couple reasons. It reduces the risk of pressure ulcer development, but also improves comfort. The tissues between the outside of your buttocks and the pelvis get compressed. There is not as much blood flow and your body says “Hey, you need to move.” That helps to restore that blood flow. Without adequate oxygenation of those tissues and with tissue deformation, pressure ulcers are a risk. Even in our clients who are not prone to pressure ulcer development, discomfort is still there.
Unfortunately in our documentation, we cannot say, “Brady is uncomfortable in his chair. He needs a tilt in space to improve comfort.” That is not seen as a medical justification. What is seen as a medical justification is “Brady has poor sitting tolerance. He can only tolerate sitting in his chair for 20 minutes, then he is uncomfortable and needs to be removed.” That is not a reasonable sitting tolerance, and we can then justify technology, such as a tilt in space, to increase that sitting tolerance.
