Back Support Shaping System for Wheelchairs

Many long term wheelchair users develop back pain or spinal and pelvic deformities, which are in part due to the rounded spinal posture promoted by the sling upholstery in the standard wheelchair. Two back support systems which connect to the vertical upright frame members of a standard wheelchair with tension straps will be designed and fabricated for evaluation. The low back support system is a single support pad for use with low back wheelchairs. The full back support system is for use on wheelchairs with standard back heights. Both the low back and full back support systems reshape the contour of the sling back rest upholstery by exerting forward pressure from behind the sling upholstery. This reshapes the wheel chair user's sitting posture. The design solutions will be posturally supportive, comfortable, adjustable, lightweight, durable, affordable, aesthetically pleasing and will allow folding of the wheelchair without removal. No other backrest support systems are available which both reshape sling backrest upholstery and satisfy the above design criteria. A design and evaluation process for optimizing the specifications of both systems with regard to the pad shape, placement, foam type, and attachment to the wheelchair will be followed.