10 Wheelchair Support Myths

Most users with enough trunk strength to do independent pressure relief can use a buckle such as a Rehab Latch™, our lowest force, airline-style buckle. Postural support can make pressure shifts easier by stabilizing parts of the body for greater trunk leverage.

If you fall while wearing a belt, especially in a lightweight chair, your chair falls on top of you.

The right postural support in a lightweight chair helps maintain your center of gravity, for faster adjustment to any sudden loss of control. For example, if casters slip on a rainy sidewalk or catch on a large crack, postural support maximizes the body’s (and thus the chair’s) ability to return to center, i.e. not to tip so much you fall out. And that holds true whether a user or caregiver is doing the driving.

If you fall out of it, a chair may well tip over the same obstacle that tipped you, or over your body, once you are in its path. But if you stay in the chair, as a belt makes more likely, it's more likely that the chair can stay upright as well -- especially in a lightweight chair.

"Better control" over a fall onto concrete, into a street or down a hill is likely to hurt you no matter how good your “control” is. This statement resembles the argument that seat belts in cars would worsen injuries in accidents.  Decades of research worldwide has shown the opposite is true, since most often the driver or passenger stays in place, protected by the steel cage of the car. The goal is to stay in your chair, and for the chair to stay upright.

Enough seat dump will prevent falls.

The amount of seat dump that would keep your body encased (stuck) in a chair in active use likely interferes with everyday positioning, by putting undue pressure on the back, sitting bones and/or legs. That amount of dump may also interfere with propulsion and increase shoulder damage over time.

Independent, experienced users are not immune to falls, as more than one recent death tragically reminds us.

Among Bodypoint's users are Josh Dueck, a ski instructor pre-injury and thereafter a 2010 and 2014 Paralympics medalist. Josh became the first sit skier ever to complete a backflip in 2012. Another user is Andreas Collin, a member of Sweden's wheelchair rugby team. Adrianne Barlow, a national para-pickleball pioneer, rocks Bodypoint gear as well, along with many of her fellow pickleballers. Two BP users that we know of, Rachael Morrison (US, club throw) and Rachael Watson (Australia, swimming) earned gold at the 2016 Paralympics, in Rio.

Wheelchair-using athletes don’t use their belts and harnesses just to stay in a chair; they use them to optimize their function and comfort, from lifting objects (including, for some of our users, their kids!) to manual chair propulsion, as they compete and in everyday life.

We offer two solutions aimed at the “hassle factor.” However, our users have shared that in general, the fabrics, design and engineering of our belts are less likely to interfere with the operation of your chair than you may have thought.

Since that belt is a minimum safety requirement for wheelchair manufacturers, it may not position you for the highest level of independence and comfort that you can achieve. And if it was installed before you received the chair, it may not be at the right position and angle for you. The best time to find that out is before you need it. This video shows how to double-check the mounting point and angle in 30 seconds.