Michelle L. Lange, OTR/L, ABDA, ATP/SMS

Sara is a 12 year old girl with the diagnosis of cerebral palsy and seizures. She is non-verbal. She has a long history of destroying footrests with aggressive movement in her wheelchair. She has had a Kid Rock dynamic manual wheelchair in the past (this has since been discontinued) and left it ‘in pieces on the floor’ due to her frequent movement. She eventually received a tilt in space manual wheelchair with Seating Dynamics Dynamic Footplates.

Her Dad, Joe, estimates that on an average school day Sara moves her dynamic footrests 2000-3000 times! Watch the video below to see an “average day.” On the weekend, she tends to be calmer and may ‘only’ move the footrests about 1000 times. On very active days (she tends to have 2-3 ‘hyperactive’ days per week), she may be in her wheelchair for up to 8 hours – resulting in about 10,000 cycles of movement! She is really getting a workout!

Sara moves so much that she destroyed her initial set of Seating Dynamics Dynamic Footrests within 6 months. Greg Peek, owner and inventor of this product, went to the family’s home in Colorado Springs in 2018 to install a new prototype design. Since that time, Sara has had no problems with the Dynamic Footrests, and this design is now standard. Specifically, the new design includes aluminum side covers without exposed bolts and is more durable – even for Sara!

Dad reports that “the reliability problems are gone” now that Sara has the Seating Dynamics Dynamic Footrests.

Sara recently received a new Manual Wheelchair Evaluation, or MWC, including Seating Dynamics Dynamic Footrests and Dynamic Head Support Hardware. Her Dad shared, “we got a new chair around Christmas, and it has been working fabulously. We got the seating dynamic footrests and headrest. Loving both.”