While rolling in their wheelchairs,
consumers can be displaced from their
optimal positions by even minor jostling.

Tina Roesler, PT, MS, ABDA, Director
of Clinical & Business Development for
Bodypoint, recently moved back to the
United States after years abroad. “Having
lived in Europe the last five years, and
watching people go over cobblestones,
I’ve seen it, even with manual chair users —
their feet slipping off the footplates,”
she said. Those changes in position can
require wheelchair users to frequently stop
to reposition themselves, which can be
time consuming and tiring.

That’s where secondary postural
supports, such as hip belts and chest
harnesses, can be helpful, Roesler
acknowledged.

“If they’re constantly having to be
repositioned or repositioning themselves,
that will definitely fatigue them a lot,” she
said. “I see, especially with Bodypoint,
users choosing to use a chest strap like
our Monoflex, or something even more
aggressive, like a chest harness when
they’re on different surfaces. It depends
on what level of control they have and how
much, if any, trunk control they have.”

But as helpful as secondary postural
supports can be, not all wheelchair users
are fans.

“Sometimes I think [the supports] could
be used better, but people are reluctant to
put something on the front of their bodies
that makes them seem more disabled, or
that they need more help,” Roesler said.

Her response: “I’m a big proponent of
‘Even if you don’t think you need it all the
time, this kind of postural support can
really benefit you, maybe even during
certain activities.’”

And Roesler encourages reluctant
clients to think of secondary postural
supports as a tool — possibly one that’s
used only in certain circumstances.

“I also use the sports analogy, because
when you look at people in sports, even
if they’re high-level injuries, like power
soccer, you have all these people with
secondary postural supports. And what
are they using them for? They’re using
them to maximize posture and maximize
their personal performance or function in
that sport. So I always think about How do
you apply these things in sport, and could
you apply these in everyday use in a way
that the person would be accepting of it?”

So if a client is hesitant to use a
secondary postural support because
they’re sensitive to how they’ll be
perceived, using the support “can be
activity based; it doesn’t always have to be
applied,” Roesler said. “The [Bodypoint]
Evoflex belt has straps — you can take
that off and push it down to the side so
you can’t see it when you’re not using it.
And then you can pull it back up — easily
access and reattach it if you need to.”

Describing postural supports as tools to
be used when needed — and pointing out
that elite wheelchair athletes use postural
supports, too — might help consumers to
rethink their usage.

“A lot of people are resistant to it in
everyday use, yet you see them in a sports
chair, and they’re using three or four
different postural supports and a backrest
that are really benefiting them,” Roesler
said. “But they don’t understand how to
transfer that to their every day.”