Seating Therapy
Seating Therapy
I have been honing my craft as a seating therapist for the past seven months. Seating therapy is pretty much a novelty in physical rehabilitation medicine, especially in the Philippines. The wheelchair is a dangerous thing to be on, and our chief mission has been to design seats with accessories that best conform and adapt to a patient’s specific disability, size, lifestyle, goals, and environment.
Most people know only about hospital-type or institutional wheelchairs, which are one-size-fits-all and are, therefore, ill-fitting and inadequate for permanent use. Worse, wheelchairs in third world countries are not prescribed with pressure-relieving cushions, an oversight that can lead to pressure sores in the butt. Pressure sores, of course, are deadly.
Above is Shen, a nine-year-old child in Mindanao born with spinal muscular atrophy. She lives in a cramped and dark room, with a bed that has no mattress. With her new supportive seat, her family can now bring her outside on a whim to breathe the fresh air in the yard, without poor Mama having to carry her in her arms.
The very act of sitting up cleared up Shen’s congested chest. The wheezing stopped, almost like a miracle. Her scoliosis will most likely progress, but I am hoping that the upright, balanced orientation of the trunk, replete with lateral supports, will retard it. In Shen's case the scoliosis is caused by the asymmetric muscle control on the spine, which happens to growing persons with disabilities condemned to a life on bed, their sole interaction only with the ceiling.
There's my countenance, shining with toil. Fitted this kid for an hour in a room that resembled an oven. Man did I sweat. Plus I had to launch into some special education stuff out of the blue. I had a truly wonderful time, though. Sharp kid. Athetoid cerebral palsy cases are smart like that.
I have been honing my craft as a seating therapist for the past seven months. Seating therapy is pretty much a novelty in physical rehabilitation medicine, especially in the Philippines. The wheelchair is a dangerous thing to be on, and our chief mission has been to design seats with accessories that best conform and adapt to a patient’s specific disability, size, lifestyle, goals, and environment.
Most people know only about hospital-type or institutional wheelchairs, which are one-size-fits-all and are, therefore, ill-fitting and inadequate for permanent use. Worse, wheelchairs in third world countries are not prescribed with pressure-relieving cushions, an oversight that can lead to pressure sores in the butt. Pressure sores, of course, are deadly.
Above is Shen, a nine-year-old child in Mindanao born with spinal muscular atrophy. She lives in a cramped and dark room, with a bed that has no mattress. With her new supportive seat, her family can now bring her outside on a whim to breathe the fresh air in the yard, without poor Mama having to carry her in her arms.
The very act of sitting up cleared up Shen’s congested chest. The wheezing stopped, almost like a miracle. Her scoliosis will most likely progress, but I am hoping that the upright, balanced orientation of the trunk, replete with lateral supports, will retard it. In Shen's case the scoliosis is caused by the asymmetric muscle control on the spine, which happens to growing persons with disabilities condemned to a life on bed, their sole interaction only with the ceiling.
There's my countenance, shining with toil. Fitted this kid for an hour in a room that resembled an oven. Man did I sweat. Plus I had to launch into some special education stuff out of the blue. I had a truly wonderful time, though. Sharp kid. Athetoid cerebral palsy cases are smart like that.