at first I was unable to as well and had to use a sip and puff setup. Make sure he works hard with a good OT "occupational therapist" to get as much return as he can! The first 3 1/2 years are the most important because he will get the most return then! :)
Good luck and you two stay strong! Danny Espinoza 26/m/California Occupation before accident Network engineer / SR. Network security engineer What happened: Broke c2,c6,c7 with doner bone at c2 Traumatic brain injury from blood going to central cortex from spinal cord not vent dependendent anymore. :] My myspace address - <http://www.myspace.com/dannylnx> http://www.myspace.com/dannylnx My spinal cord injury support website - <http://spinalcordinjured.net/> http://spinalcordinjured.net/ From: Cyndi Davis [mailto:momofmany0...@yahoo.com] Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 12:48 PM To: quad-list@eskimo.com Subject: [QUAD-L] Fw: mobility - driving your own power chair --- On Fri, 4/17/09, Cyndi Davis <momofmany0...@yahoo.com> wrote: From: Cyndi Davis <momofmany0...@yahoo.com> Subject: mobility - driving your own power chair To: quad-list@eskimo.com Date: Friday, April 17, 2009, 7:30 PM Hi! How do you all drive your power chairs? My husband is a c5,6 quad, 1 yr. post. He has limited use of some shoulder muscles, but not enough control of his arm to work the joystick on his power chair. A friend suggested getting some kind of head control: sip & puff, chin control or head control. When we had the OT do an evaluation, she said he should get enough use back to drive with his arm. She suggested a "T" shaped joystick. We just saw a "U" shaped piece on another quad's joystick (someone made his 29 yrs ago). He sets his wrist in the opening and goes where he wants to. The children and I drive my husband around for now (our 2yr. old boy loves driving his Dad's chair - but he runs into everything! so I don't allow him to. He only drives when my back is turned!). It would be nice for my husband to have some independance. Any suggestions? Thanks! momofmany0...@yahoo.com <http://us.mc434.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=momofmany0...@yahoo.com>
