The wheelchair and its essential components for the mobility of quadriplegic persons with spinal cord injury

Abstract

Objective: This study sought to understand which items are essential to the wheelchair from the perspective of a person with quadriplegic spinal cord injury (SCI). Method: The study was qualitative with semi-structured interviews and discourse analysis, as well as a checklist of the wheelchair being used and the wheelchair provided by the government's Unified Health System (SUS). Results: The causes of SCI were motor vehicle accidents (60%), diving into shallow waters (30%) and being struck by a vehicle (10%), respectively and the injury time averaged 16.3 years (± 7.14). All of the subjects were in physiotherapy. The number of wheelchairs tested before finding the proper one were two to five and some participants practiced adapted sports with the wheelchair. The checklist showed that the government wheelchair had insufficient items and the discourse analysis resulted in four categories: Items, materials, and conditions; Learning functionality; Advantages and disadvantages of the wheelchair; and Feelings experienced. The wheelchair is essential to acquiring mobility for people with quadriplegia and trying out different models and getting orientation on the items are important for their acquisition. Suitable items facilitate acceptance, better adaptation, mobility and enable autonomy. Conclusion: The wheelchair from the government's health system was insufficient, leading to its being abandoned, and wheelchairs acquired for their functionality, with essential items, responsive to the user's individuality and taste proved to be useful and appropriate, despite their high cost.

Distúrbios osteomusculares em cuidadores de pessoas idosas domiciliados: Prevalencia e seus fatores associados

“…Os itens adequados facilitam a aceitação, melhor adaptação, bem-estar e satisfação. (Ossada et al 2014).…”

Condução de cadeira de rodas usando rastreamento ocular por imagem

“…De acordo com a Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas (ABNT), a cadeira de rodas (CR) pode ser definida como um "Dispositivo para fornecer mobilidade sobre rodas com um sistema de suporte de assentos para uma pessoa com mobilidade reduzida" [25]. Ela deve proporcionar apoio ao indivíduo, mantendo sua integridade física, promovendo sua mobilidade de forma a garantir sua integração comunitária e socialização [26]. As expressões lógicas utilizadas para a busca nas bases foram: "video-oculography" OR "infrared oculography" AND "Webcam" AND "Wheelchair" OR "Powered wheelchair".…”

Desenvolvimento de um sistema para avaliação de desempenho de usuários de cadeira de rodas motorizada

“…A CRM possui diversos benefícios em relação à CR manual, pois permite que o usuário se locomova por percursos longos, com velocidade, sem gasto energético, além de auxiliar em rampas, desníveis e no percurso, com segurança. Desta forma, garante mais autonomia e possibilidade de ir e vir, sem um acompanhamento e dependência (Gil-Agudo et al, 2013;Ossada et al, 2015). Assim, a CRM contribui para a melhora da qualidade de vida dos usuários e facilita sua participação na sociedade (Shore, 2017).…”