Courtesy: ISO 16840 Wheelchair seating

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ISO 16840-1 was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 173, Assistive products for persons with disability, Subcommittee SC 1, Wheelchairs.

Introduction

The development of wheelchair seating as a sub-specialty of rehabilitation services has been occurring over the last several decades. This practice involves the selection and provision of wheelchair seating products that provide improved body support, movement control, and injury prevention for the wheelchair user. Inherent in this selection process is the measurement and communication of the anthropometrics and postural measures of the seated person, as well as the orientation, location and linear measures of the person’s seating support surfaces.

However, there has been tremendous variation in the use of the terminology and definitions related to the clinical measures of a seated individual. Standard definitions and terms are lacking for communicating critical postural information and support surface parameters in a way that is uniformly useful to service providers, researchers, manufacturers, wheelchair users and purchasers when selecting and providing wheelchair seating devices.

The purpose of this part of 16840 is to specify standardised geometric terms and definitions for describing and quantifying a person’s anthropometric measures and seated posture, as well as the spatial orientation and dimensions of a person’s seating support surfaces. This also allows for the systematic monitoring of a person’s seated posture change over time.

This part of ISO 16840 applies to seating intended to provide postural support within a wheelchair. It specifies:

• a) a global coordinate system that permits the determination and recording of a person’s posture while seated in a wheelchair;
• b) the standard terms and definitions for use in describing both the posture and the anthropometrics of a person seated in a wheelchair;
• c) the terms and definitions for describing the dimensions, location and orientation of seating support surfaces, which together comprise the body support system.

This part of ISO 16840 does not specify any methods for use in measuring a person’s seated posture, nor does it define terms for dynamic physiological movements (such as flexion or extension).

This part of 16840 might be applicable to seating other than that intended to be used within a wheelchair.