And the other part is educating clinicians, and sometimes consumers – usually clinicians, as they tend to be the gatekeepers – and also getting the costs and ordering the cost-benefit analysis.

One of the things that is good about the military and the VA is that nothing tends to be more forward-thinking … when it comes to technology. I think that’s by and large due to the fact that veterans are a mix of a younger and older population – so is the general population – but the VA has a good track record of seeing the benefits of being an early adopter of new technologies.

 

Speaking of new technologies, what are some of the new technologies to look out for in the next two to three years?

In the next two to three years, I think we’ll see in manual wheelchairs more of the ability of the user to individually adjust the chair during the day for different activities without compromising weight or performance. I think we’re going to continue to see greater use of composites and greater use of rapid prototyping.

 

Give us an example of rapid prototyping in your industry.

Literally that component will be made for that individual. With the way that rapid prototyping machines have been working for selective laser sintering or deposit machining or even standard CNC [Computer Numerical Controlled] machining, which has gotten so much faster and more efficient, you’ll see more individual customization.

You see that already coming out in some companies like Colours [Wheelchair] and Lasher [Sport LLC]. You can send them a sketch and they will engrave that in your chair or they can carve your wheels for you – on my chair I have “Army Strong” etched on the front of it. But it’s even to the point where you customize functional components as well, like the backrest hardware on my chair is made for me and for my chair. I think that wheelchairs are moving more towards the area of prosthetics or orthotics.

 

While looking over your website, I saw a prototype of a chair that you’re working on for airline travel, which helped me understand a wheelchair as a piece of everyday life gear – something that a user might have multiple versions of depending on what a user is doing during their day, like sports, travel, outdoors recreation. Is that something that you’re seeing more of?

I would say that’s accurate in the VA and the DoD as people get a better understanding. We’re seeing that somewhat in the private sector. I think the market in the private sector is changing because insurance companies are saying, “We’re going to give you this basic chair,” and people are basically starting to finance them themselves. Fortunately, the VA and DoD have recognized the importance of providing good quality equipment, like good quality prosthetics, orthotics, and wheelchairs, that help promote health, quality of life, and employment. So it’s worthwhile for the VA and DoD to make that investment.

 

You have to deal with soldiers and veterans who have been through extremely painful and trying situations. Is there anything you can do from an engineering standpoint that can make the transition to a wheelchair easier for them?

Yeah, I’m not sure from an engineering prospective so much. But what we can do is train their clinicians on how to train people in wheelchair skills so that they can learn that they can – especially young soldiers and young veterans – develop pretty high levels of skills to be able to do a lot different activities in the community.

Another mechanism that works very effectively is sports and recreation … activities like the National Veterans Wheelchair Games and the Veterans Sports Clinic, where people get a chance to find out that their perceptions of their limitations are probably greater than their actual limitations.