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Regarding repairs for complex seating and wheelchairs, stakeholders seemingly agree on one thing: The process takes too long, leaving wheelchair riders without the technology they depend on to optimize their function and independence. From consumers and caregivers to clinicians, providers, manufacturers, researchers, legislators and policy experts, stakeholders agree that repair reform is desperately needed. But…

Traditionally, seat cushions that provide the most help for wheelchair riders — such as custom-molded ones with robust support and positioning, or that accommodate asymmetrical or windswept postures — have come with tradeoffs. They can be bulky and heavy. They don’t breathe well, so they trap and hold heat. They also trap and hold moisture,…

Truly managing pressure injury risk requires a wide-angle lens that takes in everything a wheelchair rider does — and everywhere that rider sits — all day long. “People think it was just that car ride over the weekend or sitting on a commode for too long that caused this pressure injury,” said Nicole LaBerge, PT,…

The consumer- and caregiver-focused Abilities Expo series is partnering with multiple industry organizations to bring educational sessions to seating, mobility and assistive technology professionals starting in 2026. In a June 10 interview with Mobility Management, Katy Roberts, managing director of the Abilities Expo, discussed how the new Abilities International Accessibility Conference for industry professionals will…

CHICAGO — For the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America’s (RESNA) 2025 conference, it would be hard to imagine a more beautiful location than the city’s Riverwalk, where the Chicago River meets Lake Michigan. For the May 12-16 conference at the Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk, RESNA members had company. The meeting was…

The news stories are too common, with too common a thread: A student in a wheelchair is left behind during an active shooter drill because taking that child down stairs is too big a hassle. Or an adult wheelchair rider is left in an office stairwell as coworkers evacuate because that fire alarm is probably…

In late March, a TikTok video by @ezbruhhspinz showed a small boy in his ultralightweight wheelchair pointing to a poster in a Target store. “There’s a girl in a wheelchair, just like me!” he says of the poster’s artwork. The video racked up 26.7 million views. Maybe it also sparked conversations on how important it…

It’s all about access, engineering … and physics. The spring 2024 coding and funding decision by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for power seat elevation was a textbook case of good news and bad news. The good news: CMS, citing how seat elevation can support and facilitate transfers and reaching tasks, affirmed…

Perhaps the most significant misconception that bariatric mobility clients — and their seating teams — must face is the misconception that higher body weights simply require wheelchairs with higher weight capacities and wider seats. A second misconception: Seating clients with body weights in the bariatric range are all similar to each other, and their weight…

After his first week as the new administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Mehmet Oz, M.D., shared four goals that embody the “Make America Healthy Again” mandate of President Donald Trump. Here’s #4: “Shifting the paradigm for health care from a system that focuses on sick care to one that fosters…