Wheelchair Cusion
Bony butts, poor posture, sitting all day, skin breakdown. Does any of this sound familiar? If so, you know that any of these can become a real problem is there isn’t adequate cushioning.
When it came time to replace our son’s old wheelchair (long overdue thanks to only being able to get a new one every so many years), we were so excited to be going from a stroller-like wheelchair to an elaborate, super-comfy Zippy wheelchair with a gel cushion! Oooh, gel! He’ll never have a red tailbone again! You see, our son (Nick) has absolutely no butt. He inherited this wonderful feature from his dad, who also has no butt. They are both plagued with sore bums, not able to sit on anything hard for long without paying for it later. Anyhow, we waited and waited and waited until it finally Nick’s new wheelchair arrived in the spring of ’07.
We were so excited. Or at least I was. Nick absolutely loved his new wheelchair. He was a big boy now. I think maybe he noticed that all of the other kids in his class had big-kid wheelchairs long before he did. He’s just a little guy, so we could get away with a special needs stroller for a long time.
But the red tailbone didn’t go away! This prompted me to check the gel on his wheelchair seat. What the heck? It all squished to the side and he was sitting on hard plastic! You see, those gel cushions aren’t all that I thought that they would be. There just isn’t enough gel in there, and what is in there moves to the sides, away from where he needed it to be.
This was quite disheartening, to say the least. Being the idiot that I am (and with no help from his PT), I didn’t pursue getting a new seat for his Zippy. I guess at the time, I didn’t realize that there were all types of seats for the Zippy. But my ignorance actually turned out to be not such a bad thing. Why? Because rather than just letting insurance pay for a new seat, I started to look for a solution elsewhere. I searched the net for good padding to add to his seat.
This is when I discovered a company called Action Products. They are a leading manufacturer and distributor of cushioning and comfort products used in the medical and related industries. The majority of their products are made with a material called Akton® polymer. This material was invented specifically for preventing pressure ulcers, for use on operating tables in operating rooms. So right there I knew that this must be a much better product than the gel cushion that was giving Nick a sore butt.
I ordered two wheelchair cushions without the foam since one was going to be placed on top of Nick’s existing wheelchair seat. I’ll be blogging soon to tell you what we’re using the other one for. I also ordered a thinner piece to cut up and use for cushioning on his footplates. You see, Akton® polymer is a super-squishy material, but it is also a solid material. You can cut it with scissors and and put pieces wherever you need cushioning. But don’t try super gluing the pieces. It won’t stick. Nick’s footplates on his wheelchair now have superglue all over them, but still no cushioning 
) If you do end up ordering some for cutting into pieces, please note in advance that under the thin protective skin of the pad is extremely sticky. You can purchase more ‘skin’ to seal it, or you can just dust the sticky edges with baby powder. I just used baby powder.
Our new pads arrived quickly. Can you say ‘heavy’? I was amazed at how heavy these thin pads were! And when I first poked my finger into the middle of it, I said “Wow! Awesome!”. Super-squishy, but other than putting a dent in it, the material didn’t move. This means that when Nick sat on his new wheelchair pad, it didn’t squish away to the sides like his gel seat did. It stayed in the exact same spot.
Nick’s tailbone is no longer red and sore, and obviously he’s been spared the too-common pain of skin breakdown. We recently received a new portable Safari Tilt wheelchair for him, and to my delight, his equipment rep ordered an custom made Akton® polymer pad to go on the seat! Yeah!
Did I forget to mention that you can wash it, too? And that it is shock absorbent? Besides being used in the operating room and on wheelchairs, Akton® polymer is also used for:
Heel & Elbow Pads
Heel and elbow pads
Hand exerciser
Mattress Overlays
Wearing under a wig or hat to make it more comfortable and secure