Assessment of seating forces imparted through daily activity by children with special needs

Extensor spasms regularly occur in spastic Cerebral Palsy (CP) children making their bodies unbalanced and causing wheelchair instability. Furthermore the child may be uncomfortable as a result of the high contact forces potentially causing pain and injury, which will impair their functional ability. Dynamic seating systems have been designed to absorb the energy associated with these spasms. For people with physical disabilities, especially patients who have strong extensor spasticity, the dynamic design prevents pressure ulcers and injury from impact. However, the quantitative effectiveness and impact of using dynamic components has yet to be established. Therefore our objective is to compare the imparted forces on equivalent rigid and dynamic seating systems, to understand the interactions between force, wheelchair compliance and physical activity throughout a four hour session of non-laboratory based daily living.