Julie Morton
Clinical Specialist OT in Spinal Injuries, Greenpark Healthcare Trust, Northern Ireland
Jackie Casey
Lecturer in OT, School of Health Science, UUJ
May Stinson
Lecturer in OT, School of Health Science, UUJ

Wheelchair provision is a central aspect of rehabilitation of clients with a spinal cord injury. During rehabilitation the goal is for the person with a spinal cord injury to achieve maximum independence in all aspects of their life and transfer these skills as able to facilitate independent community living. The type of wheelchair provided has an effect on this [1], [2], [3].
The Regional Disablement Services (RDS) have the responsibility of wheelchair provision and evaluation in Northern Ireland. Equipment available on contract complies with European Health and Safety Standards and undergoes evaluation and trial prior to usage. The range of wheelchairs is basic and limited and no high specification lightweight wheelchairs are provided [4].

Clinical experience and observation has highlighted the fact that many tetraplegic patients choose to purchase a lightweight wheelchair privately which they are able to self-propel. Purchase of this chair can increase their independence and enable easier community access and integration. Regular anecdotal feedback from individual clients has led to the focus of this study, which is to determine if the prescription of these lightweight wheelchairs would benefit our local tetraplegic population.

Tetraplegic patients are classified as having impairment to the upper extremities as well as the lower extremities [5] and are known to have more difficulty propelling a manual wheelchair than paraplegic patients [6], [7]. They are thus assumed to illustrate the impact of wheelchair provision on wheelchair skills more clearly. Previous research [8] has stated that the standard of care for manual wheelchair users is a lightweight customisable wheelchair.

The aim of the current study is to examine if there is a significant improvement in wheelchair skills for tetraplegic patients in Northern Ireland when provided with a lightweight wheelchair as compared to when using a standard N.H.S. wheelchair.