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The Center for Bionic Medicine’s Director Emeritus, Dr. Todd Kuiken, and research engineer Frank Ursetta presented at the 40th anniversary celebration for the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) on Thursday.
Dr. Kuiken and Ursetta presented on our team’s manual standing wheelchair, a device that allows a user to be mobile in either seated or standing mode, or any mode in between.
The wheelchair’s development was supported by NIDILLR, a government agency that funds research focused on reducing disability and promoting independence for the estimated 40 million people in America who report living with a disability.
Last month, the agency awarded the Center for Bionic Medicine a 5-year Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center grant to continue development and testing of the wheelchair and other projects.
At the 40th anniversary celebration, Ursetta demonstrated how the chair can alternate between seated and standing modes, while Dr. Kuiken described the health benefits of standing, as well as the functional and social benefits of being able to stand. For example, users who may normally be confined to sitting can position the wheelchair to standing mode in order to reach items high off a shelf or to talk to people at eye level at a party. Some of the physical benefits of standing include improved breathing and heart function, as well as reduced risk of osteoporosis and pressure ulcers.
While some powered wheelchairs that are heavier and costly provide the ability to stand and move, this device, which is still in the research phase, is the first manual wheelchair to provide this ability.
“Standing is healthy for us all,” Dr. Kuiken said, “and we want to give at least some of that back to people with disabilities.”
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