Spasticity and Splints - Part 15: Using My Wheelchair

When the wound was healing up, I had lots of little scabby bits along the scar. Very technical wording, I know! Anyway, the scar was raised and I’m not sure if it was these scabs and I don’t know why, but at one point my scar was really painful. I kept catching the scar when my arm moved across something, and that felt like I was pulling a single strand of hair!

As with every injury or procedure, you have to learn to adapt afterwards, and I know that this operation wasn’t really major in the grand scheme of things, but it’s been quite a big change in my life.

Using my wheelchairs has felt a little awkward since I’ve had the operation. I have a manual and electric wheelchair. Both wheelchairs have a different seating system.

My electric wheelchair has a separate seat to the rest of the chair because I used to break the backrest due to my high tone and thrust reflex, so since I was about 14, I’ve had a seat with a dynamic back (Sharky Pro). A dynamic backrest moves with the user, and you can set the sensitivity to fit the user’s needs, so the seat still supports them, but some of their movement is absorbed with the seat movement. The seat in my electric wheelchair has built-in thoracic supports, and when I had my arm in the sling, it was uncomfortable to sit with my elbow up on the thoracic support and the rest of my arm stuck out. I had to be careful where I put my left arm as well because I would knock my right hand with my left arm.

My manual wheelchair has removable thoracic supports, so that was an easy fix. We just took the right one out and let the sling support my arm. I have a shaped arm rest to support and prevent my arm from flopping down the side of the chair when it’s relaxed. I found that it was more comfortable to rest my elbow on the top of the outside of the arm rest.

I kept using the sling when I was in my wheelchair for a while after I got my cast off to prevent my arm from hitting the side of my chair. It is more difficult for me to control my arm movements when I am in my wheelchair, because I have no way to fix my arms so that they don’t fly around, especially if I’m driving my electric wheelchair.