What are the differences between different types of wheelchair footrests/leg rests?

Katherine Hayward

What type of powerchair footrests would be best for me?I have subluxation in my hips, rotation of my pelvis, feet and legs and my left leg is 1cm shorter than my right. When I sit, my posture is slouched to the sides and I fall forwards. I'm searching the Internet to have an idea what a technician could order for me. I'm thinking electric footrests because I can't adjust manually elevating ones, and the manual ones make my muscles tighter.I want to be able to electrically adjust them myself without asking for help.
I haven't had great luck with technicians, they just wanted my money and didn't advise me well. My legs flop to the sides of the footrests too, and I'm looking for support round the backs and sides of my legs, but can't find any with lateral leg support. I want the footrest to be as compact as possible because on ones that fit onto the sides of a wheelchair frame I end up bumping them into things as I turn because of my coordination/ vision/ perception problems. What are the pros and cons of each type of leg rest and footrest? I can't find the information on wheelchair brochures or order forms, and when I contacted the wheelchair companies, they said see a technician or didn't reply back to me. I'm still looking around for another technician. My feet fall backwards off of normal footrests so the last technician I saw built up the base and back of them with solid plastic and this works. I have Velcro straps to secure my feet in place because they don't stay in place otherwise because of spasticity, and end up sticking out in front of me. I want to be well informed before I talk to the technician, and need footrests and legrests where the Velcro straps and built up footrests can be used.

Noah

You mention that you have not had great luck with wheelchair technicians. The place to start would possibly be wheelchair services under the NHS. They should be able to help you with different solutions that might work for you. Well done doing research online, my advice would be to keep doing that, and take along to your appointment, print outs of what you have found out, so that between you, the technician and possibly an OT and anyone else that understands your needs, you can come up with a solution that works for you.

All the very best 

Katherine Hayward

thanks