Spinal Cord Injury Update
Spring 2016: Volume 25, Number 1
Brush Up on Your Wheelchair Skills! New Video Series Shows You How
Are you comfortable navigating curbs, bumpy terrain, ramps, potholes and tight spaces in your manual wheelchair? Would you like to learn new manual wheelchair skills or get better at the ones you already use?
A new series of short videos that teach essential manual wheelchair skills has been produced through the SCI Empowerment Project within the University of Washington Department of Rehabilitation Medicine. Funded by the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation, the SCI Empowerment Project is designed to foster healthy aging after SCI and reduce SCI survivors’ vulnerability to medical problems that can decrease their independence and quality of life as they get older.
The project is directed by Rina Reyes, MD, associate professor and medical director of the UW Medicine SCI Rehabilitation Program. “There is a clear need for healthy living strategies that has emerged from the growing recognition of the unique consequences of aging on people with SCI,” said Reyes. “We are very grateful to the Neilsen Foundation for this opportunity to create new resources in this area. This video series targets promotion of proper wheelchair skills to preserve long-term shoulder health and prevent falls.”.
The videos were created in response to a need rehab therapists and clinicians increasingly see with today’s short inpatient rehab stays. “People with spinal cord injuries often have minimal exposure to essential wheelchair skills during therapy. Being able to confidently and independently wheel around the home and community is becoming a lost art,” said Elisa Smith, PT, DPT, NCS, a physical therapist on inpatient rehab at Harborview Medical Center. “We want to instill hope and excitement in people by showing them a range of techniques performed by a user with a recent spinal cord injury. This can mean the difference between being home bound, depending on caregivers, and getting back to full life.” Smith researched and wrote the video scripts and also co-stars in the videos.
Volunteer talent Josh Hancock, who has paraplegia, stars alongside Smith in these videos. “Josh has great technique and was very enthusiastic about helping with this project,” Smith said. “You can see it come through in the videos.”
Find all 11 videos in this series at http://sci.washington.edu/empowerment/videos.asp .