Rehab Technology
Chapter 6: The Primary Goals of Seating Intervention
Most clinicians’ practice goals and philosophies may impact client assessment or recommendations. It is, therefore, important for clinicians to evaluate and examine their practices and ways in which they affect service delivery to their clients, particularly in relation to seating interventions. Both physical and occupational therapy practitioners are well-trained in undertaking general assessments for seating interventions (Rothman & Levine, 1992).
The primary goals of practitioners involved in seating assessments include determining if their client’s current seating system, if any, meets their needs and, if not, recommend suitable equipment. Therefore, the recommended seating intervention has to interface with the existing or new mobility base. Thus, the three major goals for seating intervention include the following.
Pressure Relieve and Comfort
One of the major reasons people change their positions when sitting is pressure relieve. When sitting for a much longer time, tissues are often compressed between the pelvis and the skin, therefore, reducing the efficiency of blood movement in the body. For this reason, the body sends signals of discomfort including pain, tingling, as well as numbness. Weaknesses, paralysis, and lack of motor control make many people unable to move independently or shift their weight adequately (Rothman & Levine, 1992).
Proximal Stability for Distal Control
Making the body stable allows dissociation of the extremities as well as isolation of motor control. For instance, when seated, an individual’s feet may be tucked under him or her, therefore, pulling the pelvis into a slight anterior tilt or sometimes stabilizing the area. Thus, proximal stability permits improved distal control of the arms as well as fingers when working or moving. Sometimes, a number of clients lack intrinsic stability because of weakness or paralysis. Therefore, seating system enables fundamental stability to enhance function in order to allow clients to relax without the struggle to remain upright.
Skeletal Alignment or Asymmetry
There is no particular seating posture that is regarded as the best or appropriate. Furthermore, there is no consensus on what are the components of skeletal alignment, especially in seating positions. The major goal is to obtain midline symmetry, both in the sagittal as well as frontal planes (Pedretti, 2001).
Chapter 8: GUI and Its Advantages to Persons With Disabilities
GUI refers to graphical user interface experience. It is a useful tool for teaching people with disabilities to access various technologies. As a computer-user interface, it offers the ability for machines and humans to communicate with one another (Abascal, Bonail, Cagigas, Garay, & Gardeazabal, 2008). GUI defines how humans tell computers what they want and how computers present to them the information requested. In the world today, the most popular user interfaces include keyboards, mouse, as well as view-screens.
With a GUI, users choose options usually through pointing a mouse at an icon that represents that option (Huang, Chao, Deng, & Park, 2014). Besides, GUIs present a number of advantages to persons with disabilities, including the following:
- GUIs are much easier to use, even for beginners;
- They allow users to easily exchange information with software through cut-and-paste or drag-and-drop options;
- They use words that are easily understood by the users and use suitable colours for key areas;
- GUIs are attractive as well as pleasing to the eye and can allow users to try out different options without confusion;
- Finally, GUIs do not need a lot of memory and processing power and often run on computers with low specifications.
References
Abascal, J., Bonail, B., Cagigas, D., Garay, N., & Gardeazabal, L. (2008, January 1). Trends in adaptive interface design for smart wheelchairs. In J. Lumsden (Ed.), Handbook of research on user interface design and evaluation for mobile technology (pp. 711-730). Hershey, PE: IGI Global.
Huang, Y.-M. R., Chao, H.-C., Deng, D.-J., & Park, J. J. (2014). Advanced technologies, embedded and multimedia for human-centric computing: HumanCom and EMC 2013 (Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering). New York City, NY: Springer.
Pedretti, L. W. (2001). Occupational therapy: Practice skills for physical dysfunction. St. Louis, MO: Mosby.
Rothman, J., & Levine, R. E. (1992). Prevention practice: Strategies for physical therapy and occupational therapy. Philadelphia: Saunders.