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justolemom

Member
Joined
May 1, 2017
Messages
27
Reason
PALS
Diagnosis
05/2017
Country
US
State
New York
City
Rockville Centre
I am having a difficult time keeping my feet on my Permobile footrest. my feet get cold and swell a bit during the day so i use the leg lift and recline to help with that, something they recommended to do every hour for 3 minutes. My problem comes when i go back to regular sitting position. my legs are spastic and often slide off the paddle. this is ok when someone is here - but i have a hard time getting them back on alone. Does anyone have a suggestion/hack to keep feet on the rest/paddle?

thanks for any thoughts/advice. This forum, and all who post, are so helpful and knowledgable.
 
I have thigh supports that keep my legs in position. Works great for keeping legs and feet in place.
 
Thank you- but i also have the thigh support, but my feet still slip off to the sides.
 
I think my sister used a kind of stretchy soft material around her feet / leg rest
 
There is something called Ankle Huggers® that support without pressure (disclaimer: I worked for the manufacturer). Your DME can order them or they are available on line. But if your footplates are not slotted, slots would need to be drilled.

Take care that any homemade solutions (that could include an overlay in the footplates for more friction, like gel or sheepskin, though that may not be enough for spasticity) do not put pressure on the top or sides of the foot.

Best,
Laurie
 
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After being bed ridden for several weeks and after receiving her own fitted PWC we finally lifted my wife from her bed to the power wheel chair.

Foot rests were the first problem.

She could not bend her legs enough and her feet extended beyond the end of the rests.

Adjusting the rests made the problem worse.

I used the top from an old TV table and placed it across the rests effectively extending their length and width.

This worked really well but we had to careful not to hit objects when moving. The TV table top also extended the radius for turning etc.

The wheel chair guy will be here tomorrow and might fix or suggest other ways of addressing the problem.
 
thank you - I will see if my husband can come up with something like that, extending the surface for my feet should help. I did like the ankle straps suggested and thought they would definatley keep my legs correct and on paddle but the paddles don't have holes and I cant imagine how you could drill holes into them.

please keep me posted pm what wheelchair tech suggests,

thank you
 
You can drill into the footrests (well, a tech can). DMEs do this all the time.
 
I got a package of 1 x 20 velcro straps and one on each foot secures my feet when bouncing around on rough terrain.
 
Wheel chair guy came yesterday to fit my wife's PWC. Foot rests are still a problem. Wife can't tolerate the knee bend.

Also, our electric Hoyer lift would not lift all the way up. From the sound it appears the gears are worn and slipping. Is is from the loner closet and the wheel chair guy said it was probably used to lift very heavy people and suffered damage as a result.

I went to the loner closet and got another one. It is manual but more manageable and does better on carpet.
 
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