The wheelchair and its essential components for the mobility of quadriplegic persons with spinal cord injury

Abstract

Objective: This study sought to understand which items are essential to the wheelchair from the perspective of a person with quadriplegic spinal cord injury (SCI). Method: The study was qualitative with semi-structured interviews and discourse analysis, as well as a checklist of the wheelchair being used and the wheelchair provided by the government’s Unified Health System (SUS). Results: The causes of SCI were motor vehicle accidents (60%), diving into shallow waters (30%) and being struck by a vehicle (10%), respectively and the injury time averaged 16.3 years (± 7.14). All of the subjects were in physiotherapy. The number of wheelchairs tested before finding the proper one were two to five and some participants practiced adapted sports with the wheelchair. The checklist showed that the government wheelchair had insufficient items and the discourse analysis resulted in four categories: Items, materials, and conditions; Learning functionality; Advantages and disadvantages of the wheelchair; and Feelings experienced. The wheelchair is essential to acquiring mobility for people with quadriplegia and trying out different models and getting orientation on the items are important for their acquisition. Suitable items facilitate acceptance, better adaptation, mobility and enable autonomy. Conclusion: The wheelchair from the government’s health system was insufficient, leading to its being abandoned, and wheelchairs acquired for their functionality, with essential items, responsive to the user’s individuality and taste proved to be useful and appropriate, despite their high cost.