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Overcoming discomfort in your wheelchair

So much about comfort is about putting you back in control.

We chat to Mark Brown about what comfort meant to him, and how demanding it changed his life.

Mark is a researcher with a PhD in Psychology and an Honorary Research Fellow at Deakin University. He has been raised to seek control over his life and not to take no as an answer.

Mark Brown sought independence, and comfort was key in achieving that

When Mark got his second powerchair he had two wishes – to live independently and to feed himself. Mark was not comfortable with the level of dependency he had on others.

After discussions with the sale specialists and engineers at Magic Mobility, Mark added an elevated tray table and an additional actuator for power elevating legrest. This helped with Mark’s muscle movement, adding heaps of additional comfort and improving his circulation.

“I think it’s important for people with disabilities to become good problem solvers because it’s still a world built for able bodied people,” said Mark. “So, I think wherever you can develop in yourself a bit of creativity and knowledge of your own needs and your own capabilities, that’s going to make life a lot easier.”

Mark’s lift features on his chair put him at eye level, which was especially important for his work and when lecturing.

“My current wheelchair has got quite a few different features from power elevating seat to power elevating legrests, tilt in space, power recline and all of those have become essential,” explained Mark. “I use them every day, because once you’ve got the capacity to move your body in a particular direction, you’re just going to want to take advantage of that.”

Magic’s philosophy has always been to firstly understand their customer’s goals, aspirations and medical needs and then work alongside them to customise a chair to their needs.

When you build the first chair that’s only the start of the relationship.

Mark now has his independence, and his comfort

“When we got to the Magic showroom and I saw that first model I decided then that’s the chair I was getting and we’re not doing any more research,” said Mark. “My family said it would be sensible to keep on looking and keep looking at other options.

“I said ‘fine I’ll come along but I’m telling you, that’s the one’.

“I think sometimes it’s just like that, you fall in love with a design or you fall in love with the look of a particular chair and you know that it fits your personality as much as anything else.”

That’s why Magic Mobility has built a reputation for being able to develop highly customised wheelchairs that enable users to work and contribute economically and socially, live independently, reduce the stress and cost on families or paid carers.