Victor – a young man who happily resides with his parents in Cancun, Mexico. Victor was born with Cerebral Palsy and since birth has required a wheelchair for all his daily activities. Going to the beach and playing with his team in baseball league are the two things Victor enjoys doing most. With a substantial amount of his time spent in a wheelchair, Victor’s posture needs to be supported correctly so he can continue doing the things he loves.

Over the years Victor has had numerous seating systems, unfortunately none of which had been correctly configured to his posture. His parents were determined to find a solution that would provide stability and comfort for the length of time he spends sitting and, in turn, avoid further postural and body shape distortions.

After making initial contact with Spex Seating, Victor and his parents joined Bruce Mascull and Sofia Bello where they conducted a virtual postural seating assessment for Victor. This was to understand not only his posture requirements, but his goals and values to ensure all his seating needs and desires were met. As Sofia explains further,

We talked about Victor’s needs, knowing his circumstances and goals and his health condition, focusing on how to improve his, and his family’s, active participation in such a way that their preferences, values and desired needs are met. We were able to identify where, and what types, of supports he needed, to reduce the body shape distortions, he presented with.

From the assessment, it was evident that Victor required a new configured seating system. Bruce and Sofia contacted the Spex distributor in Costa Rica, Rehabilitate, where Andrés (Physical Therapist) and Milena (Occupational Therapist) were excited to assist. It was their team who were the physical hands behind the fitting, ensuring that Victor’s desires and needs were fulfilled. In collaboration with the team at Rehabilitate, Physiotherapist Sofia Bello recommended the following seating solutions that were fitted to Victor’s wheelchair:

• Spex High Contoured Cushion with obliquity pads to reduce the pelvic asymmetry and encourage the pelvis into a level position.
• Spex SuperShape Back Support to immerse and stabilize the trunk (upper body) and to optimize comfort in the present of exaggerated spinal kyphosis.
• Spex Axial Lateral Trunk Supports with broad support pads to respond to his unique body shape and improve pressure distribution.
• A shaped and comfortable head support, the Spex Comfi Head Support, with an adjustable mechanism – Stylo 160, that allows true adjustment of the pad position giving the optimal solution.
• 4-point pelvic belt to provide added stability to pelvis.
• Centrepoint Shoulder Harness to provide superior comfort.

Stable positioning for all daily activities is especially important for Victor when he is eating, playing, and generally participating in family life. With his previous seating system, he was unable to maintain an upright sitting position independently, leading to kyphosis and trunk rotation. Now his Spex Seating System provides stability with external postural supports enabling him to use his arms and head for daily activities and social interaction. Improving stability ensures that his hand and arm movement is controlled, and allows participation in baseball as he can sustain a stable, safe and comfortable sitting position.