Keys to Success in SCI Training: Balance and Stability in a Wheelchair Video

Keys to Success image.

About this Product

This video series is captioned for the hearing impaired.

This video is available in DVD or VHS format for $75.00.

The Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (CATEA), in conjunction with the Shepherd Center, announces their first joint video venture, Keys to Success in SCI Training: Balance and Stability in a Wheelchair.

In this video, Chris Maurer, MPT, ATP, physical therapist and assistive technology practitioner, discusses the concepts of balance and stabilization, both inside and outside a person's base of support. Maurer also examines the five most successful compensatory strategies people with SCI use to achieve independent in their wheelchair. Keys to Success in SCI Training: Balance and Stability in a Wheelchair also includes perspectives from people with SCI on the impact of mastering balance and stability as well as providing some creative compensatory strategies to increase independence.

"People with spinal cord injuries spend many hours of their day in their wheelchairs," said Maurer. "Training them to be able to perform even the most simple activities from their wheelchairs in light of decreased balance and control will improve their confidence. Hopefully, this will lead to improvements and desire to succeed in performing more difficult tasks such as dressing and transferring, which is a big emphasis in early rehabilitation."

The primary audience for the video is physical and occupational therapists, other health care professionals, and students in these fields. However, people with spinal cord injuries and their family members would benefit from watching as they will gain first had experience from people with SCI on the most successful strategies used in gaining independence in their wheelchairs.

Table of Contents

Part 1. Balance Techniques. Discusses the concepts of balance and stabilization.

(1) Short/Long Sitting Positions

  • With upper extremity support
  • Without upper extremity support
  • Dynamic Challenges

(2) Additional Training Activities

(3) Safety issues.

Part 2. Compensatory Strategies. Looks at the five most successful compensatory strategies people with SCI use to achieve independence.

(1) Hooking on Back Post

(2) Using the Wheel

(3) Leaning onto Thigh

(4) Holding onto the Front Hanger

(5) Using the Environment

(6) Combining Strategies.

Part 3. Confidence Leads to Independence