New Wheelchair for 7 yr old T1. Ideas??

[noirin's mum]

SCI OTR or anyone with an idea of what children need/suit. My daughter had a basic quickie in her first year and then moved on to a tilite-hard tyres, detachable kirshal push handles and armrests that are rarely used and jay 2 cushion. She is for review-primarily for a new back-has tension adjustable but PT in Shriner's recommended jay/matrix. any other things i should ask them to look into? Is it worth looking at permobil for standing? or a chair thats seat raises and lowers? She has good enough arm strength and can propel quite well. WE have a striker hand bike that gets attached to chair. Still needs anti tippers but starting to back balance. I know its hard to hazard a guess not knowing her but even general advice is welcome, Thanks, Sonia.

[wheeliegirl2010]

SCI OTR or anyone with an idea of what children need/suit. My daughter had a basic quickie in her first year and then moved on to a tilite-hard tyres, detachable kirshal push handles and armrests that are rarely used and jay 2 cushion. She is for review-primarily for a new back-has tension adjustable but PT in Shriner's recommended jay/matrix. any other things i should ask them to look into? Is it worth looking at permobil for standing? or a chair thats seat raises and lowers? She has good enough arm strength and can propel quite well. WE have a striker hand bike that gets attached to chair. Still needs anti tippers but starting to back balance. I know its hard to hazard a guess not knowing her but even general advice is welcome, Thanks, Sonia.

I don't think she need a tilting chair.... that's typically for people with higher injuries.... I personally reccomend the Ride Corbac backrest.... It isn't a rigid back, but it's countured... Any backrest you decide on, she should try at the DME first... As far as a Permobile standing chair, no I don't think it's worth it.... They're heavy and not USUALLY practical... I'd look into an Easystand standing frame for standing... I have one and LOVE it! As far as armrests are concerned... kick em' to the curb..... If she has enough balance and can do pressure releases without them, it will allow her to have more efficent push strokes and make her chair ligter... Again, with the Permobil, a power/stander chair probably isn't the best thing for her because unless you NEED a power chair, it's a no-no Standing frame is probably the best option for the standing aspect....

WG

[WCmom]

I second Jessica. I have a 5yr old The lightest, least invasive option is best. Tilt in Space is heavy. Power chairs are really heavy, hard to get around, and don't get into everywhere easy.

Have you ever tried a standing frame or a rolling stander (Rabbit, I believe)?

Are you wanting a new chair?

[Gordy1]

We've just started investigating chairs for my son, 7 yr old, T6 complete. He has grown out of his Quickie, and needs (removable) lateral supports to minimize his scoliosis. We are looking for a rigid framed, lightweight chair (both for him propelling, but also for us parents lifting the chair into the car etc!). The most likely chair at the moment is a ZRa, which we have been able to see at our house, albeit in a chair that was far too big...

I would agree that armrests don't get used, so we won't be ordering any. And we rarely use the push handles (but will probably get them, or we might regret it...).

He also has a Levo standing chair (manual propel, motorised standing) which is useful for getting him to stand, but is heavy. And he has a standing frame, which has large wheels so he can move around while standing, but only on very flat surfaces.

I think WCmom sums it up well for a day chair..."the lightest, least invasive option is best."

[WCmom]

my son is getting a Colours chair with a custom seat with lateral and lumbar support from Freedom Designs Inc.

We ordered armrest cause they are included and removable

We ordered quick release stroller handle so it can be removed for school.

[WCmom]

I started a post about it. I think it was titled Child's first WC.

https://www.carecure.net/forum/showthread.php?t=141593

[noirin's mum]

THankyou for all your replies. You kind of reinforced what i already thought. Jessica,Noirin does already use a rabbit-mobile stander and we were mainly considering the levo so as to be able to brush down horse,reach for things etc- glad to see it comes in paediatric size Gordon. WCMom, I already gleaned all the info i could get from your post-it was of great benefit and made alot of work for our seating specialist.
Had the assessment today and turns out the smallest jay/matrix back is 14" here in europe and cannot import because would not be CE approved (crash testing) so looks like will have to wait-she is in 13" width. Also she is already in 22" wheels and 24" wheels are going to make transfers harder on existing frame so once more need to wait. THey have agreed to spec her for new chair when she gets to 14" and have agreed with spinergy wheels but will need to pay for carbon clothes protector. THey agreed to do a trial of a levo but can't get paediatric demo-pity australia is so far away!. THey are adamant to provide armrests for her posture but i still feel her spinal jacket offfers the support she needs which brings me on to wonder if a dump in a seat would be of benefit here and also to ask Gordon why his son needs lateral supports as i would have thought he would have a spinal jacket and then a contoured rigid backrest would suffice?
Also turns out scissor brakes will not work for Noirin as struggle to lean forward and do something and difficult to reach.
Turns out her camber is only 2 degrees so may go for 4 in next chair and they say that frog leg suspension is nothing but trouble-repair etc and i dont know enough to push it.
It's all such a learning experience and a big thankyou to you all. Sonia.

[gcblarsen]

My daughter was fitted for a Ti-Lite Aero Z at the age of 10. 14" x 14" seat Jay lite cushion and 22" wheels. We are using solid wheels. It still fits her at the age of 12. We took off the tippy bars and arm rests, she likes having the seat belt. We looked into the rabbit stander, but didn't work with her tight hip flexors. She currently as an easy stand, but it is very heavy so we keep it in one place. She doesn't like to use it. Oh, she has a T12 injury.

[Gordy1]

hi Sonia,
We paid for the Levo ourselves, as it was a second chair for my son. I'm not sure if that is why the Australian rep offered us a refurbished chair, but we bought a refurbished one, and I would recommend asking if they have any in stock. From memory, they do have a list of refurb chairs listed on their website, if you know where to look! The cost was roughly half that of a new Levo, which made it cheaper than the Quikie than my son already had...

As for spinal jackets, my son doesn't have one. It's been discussed with our specialist, and all have agreed not to limit his mobility/flexibility with a jacket (and I see your comment about Noirin struggling to lean forward - I assume that will have something to do with the jacket, in part at least). The other thing to take into account here is the heat...he couldn't wear one for most of the year for that reason alone!

WCmom, we're taking a more serious look at the Colours chairs...although my son is tall enough for an adult chair, so we don't look at the kid's models any more!

Cheers,
Gordon

[WCmom]

The Razorblade Jr goes to a 16in depth.

[WCmom]

Is a Spinal Jacket the same as TLSOs?

[Gordy1]

Sorry, I don't know what a TLSO is...

[Katja]

they say that frog leg suspension is nothing but trouble-repair etc and i dont know enough to push it.

I've had the same Frog Leg forks for almost 5 years, and they were used when I got them. I've replaced the elastomers twice: once when I bought them from the guy who had them before me, and once a couple of years ago. That's it.

It's just one data point, but they haven't required any repair or any particular maintenance, except cleaning the dirt off, which you'd do with any caster forks.

[Gordy1]

The Razorblade Jr goes to a 16in depth.

I notice the website doesn't list that detail, nor the weight of the chair. With all the adjustability it has, I would be interested to see how the weight of the Jr compares with the adult version...(weights for the adult chairs are listed on the web).

Cheers,
Gordon

[Gordy1]

Turns out her camber is only 2 degrees so may go for 4 in next chair

A couple of years ago, I thought my son would need some camber to stop him toppling the chair sideways, but my views have changed. His main daychair (quickie) has no noticeable camber and has never tipped sideways, yet he has managed to tip it over forwards (twice, once at speed, which wouldn't have happened if he was using his Free Wheel!!), and backwards (even with anti-tippers on - I suspect he was leaning back on the anti-tips, got excited, bounced up and down a bit, then hey presto...on his head!). He has good balance, and often puts the whole chair into a sideways skid at the bottom of a ramp (us parents have given up worrying about that!).

BUT, if he has lateral supports on his chair, he won't be able to lean over as much to balance properly...so maybe I will need to re-think the camber question again!

I know he enjoys basketball chairs which have a heap of camber, but downside to the camber is the increased "footprint" of the chair, which is an issue at school, as the rooms are not big unfortunately...