The Dynamic Rocker Back interface (DRBi) by Seating Dynamics has been named a 2025 Mobility Management Product Award winner in the Mobility: Back, Dynamic Positioning Hardware for (E2398) category by Mobility Management.
The Mobility Management Product Awards program honors outstanding product development in Complex Rehab Technology (CRT) and accessibility. Greg Peek, owner and lead designer at Seating Dynamics, sat down with Mobility Management to share more about the Dynamic Rocker Back interface (DRBi) solution and thoughts on the future of the industry. To learn more about the Mobility Management Product Awards and view all of this year’s winners, visit https://mobilitymgmt.com/product-awards/.
MM: Tell us about the Dynamic Rocker Back interface, including a few top features and benefits.
Peek: The Dynamic Rocker Back interface (DRBi) is installed between the seat rail and the back canes of a wheelchair and provides movement of the back to absorb and diffuse forces and assist the client back to upright. This movement can protect both the client from injury and the seating system and mobility base from breakage. This movement can also reduce active extension, maintain posture, and provide movement to reduce agitation, increase alertness, and provide sensory input. Movement can also facilitate functional activities. Finally, movement against resistance in a limited range can increase trunk and head control.
The Dynamic Rocker Back interface can be used on many different manual and power wheelchair frames, either retrofitted or at initial delivery. We deal with a unique niche population, and our philosophy is to solve problems with design, materials and workmanship at the highest level.
MM: In designing this product, what were your top goals? What were the priorities you were seeking to achieve?
Peek: I was approached by a clinician at a conference who asked if I had any products that could address the needs of clients who extended and/or moved with force, resulting in equipment damage and injury. So, I set out to design a Dynamic Back to address these needs.
MM: Who or what were the inspirations for your winning product’s functionality, features and design elements?
Peek: While the original intent was to address back cane breakage, it did not take long to realize that there are clinical and therapeutic benefits beyond anything imaginable. Breakage soon became a non-issue, and my main inspiration are the clients who use our Dynamic Seating products.
I continue to learn what is needed, how people benefit from this technology, and what changes can optimize this technology and its application.
MM: Who benefits from your Dynamic Rocker Back interface? Can you offer a “typical” client profile, including diagnosis, presentation and other indications that this back could make a positive difference?
Peek: Dynamic seating has many potential applications. Dynamic components absorb and diffuse client force, protecting the wheelchair user from injury caused by sustained and/or repeated forces and reducing damage to the seating system and wheelchair.
Dynamic Seating allows client movement within the seating system without loss of alignment in relation to the seating support surfaces. Movement provides sensory input, which many clients seek out and which can increase alertness and decrease agitation. Dynamic seating components can also improve postural control, stability and function by providing movement in a limited range against resistance.
Clients who may benefit from this technology include individuals with increased muscle tone, large and forceful movements, and/or who seek out movement, such as rocking. Clients with the following diagnoses frequently benefit from dynamic seating: cerebral palsy, behavioral disorders, and Huntington’s disease.
MM: Does your winning product offer adjustability or customizability for the different needs of different clients?
Peek: The Dynamic Rocker Back interface includes four pairs of different elastomers to change the level of resistance to movement. This is necessary to fine tune the resistance during delivery, as everyone’s needs are different. User weight and size are of little or no importance in determining the appropriate elastomer. One size does not fit all. One of these pairs, Medium, is already installed as a starting point. The optimal level of resistance allows movement, as well as return to a starting position.
The Dynamic Rocker Back interface is compatible with a large number of manual and power wheelchairs, as well as back supports to meet an individual’s needs.
The Dynamic Rocker Back interface can also be “locked out” to temporarily prevent movement during transportation. This feature may also be helpful for some individuals who need to limit movement while moving over varied terrain or during certain functional tasks, such as feeding.
MM: How does your winning product optimize independence, function, safety, confidence, success with everyday goals, etc., for its consumers?
Peek: Without the Dynamic Rocker Back interface, client forces are not diffused. Undiffused forces often result in continued active extension and client movement out of alignment with the seating system — the client may even appear to be standing in the seating system!
By diffusing force, the Dynamic Rocker Back interface facilitates client alignment with the seating system and a reduction in active extension which, in turn, optimizes client function. This also reduces client forces and risk of equipment breakage, which could otherwise lead to client injury and equipment damage. Many clients using dynamic seating have a long, and costly, history of equipment breakage.
MM: What funding options are available for this product? Is it HCPCS coded?
Peek: Dynamic Backs fall under HCPCS Code E2398, Wheelchair Accessory, dynamic positioning hardware for back (effective 1/1/2020). In making a funding determination, CMS compared dynamic backs to HCPCS Code E1015, shock absorber for manual wheelchair. This code is used for our Dynamic Back elastomers.
MM: What makes a product or service a Mobility Management Product Award winner? What advice do you have for future entrants?
Peek: The field of seating and wheeled mobility includes a vast amount of product options. I would encourage future entrants to focus on client needs, listen to clients who are using your equipment and their team members, and take that feedback and apply it to keep improving a product.
Finally, we must continue to focus on designing to meet client needs, rather than designing to meet coding. Funding is a reality for our field. However, meeting client needs is the passion that drives us to keep doing what we are doing and do it even better!
