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

In a recent webinar, Maintaining Posture by Providing Movement, we reviewed some of the reasons clients lose their position in relation to the seating system support surfaces:

• Lack of appropriate postural support in the seating system
• Client moving away from a position of discomfort
• Client seeking a position of stability
• Client seeking a position of function
• Client extension
  • At the hips
  • At the lower extremities
  • At the neck
• Large and forceful client movements (e.g., dystonia)

I then asked our very smart participants if they had other ideas, and they came up with some great ones!

• Seizure activity
• External stimuli (e.g., moving over rough terrain)
• Sensory seeking behaviors (e.g., rocking)
• Fatigue
• Primitive reflex activity

The participants also shared some specific issues that fall under “Lack of appropriate postural support” including:

• Client range of motion limitations (where the seating system does not match these limitations)
• The pelvic positioning belt being mounted at the wrong angle of attachment in relation to the client or not being adequately tightened
• Poor transfers resulting in suboptimal alignment with the seating support surfaces

It is important to identify why a client is moving out of position in relation to their seating system in order to determine an optimal solution. In this webinar, we discussed how allowing movement can actually maintain client alignment within the seating system. How? By diffusing forces through Dynamic Seating, the client can move (instead of leveraging against the support surfaces) and return to upright without loss of position. Want to learn more? Check out this informative webinar and then share your thoughts!