The manual wheelchair tilt-rest skill: A cross-sectional survey of awareness and capacity among wheelchair users

Introduction/Background The tilt-rest skill consists of tipping the wheelchair back and allowing it to rest against a solid object with the wheel locks applied (e.g. for pressure redistribution, neck comfort or hands-free activities). The objective of this study was to test the hypotheses that many wheelchair users are unaware of the skill and even fewer can perform it. Material and method We conducted a cross-sectional survey following STROBE guidelines on 49 manual wheelchair users with a variety of diagnoses. The main outcome measures were a questionnaire regarding demographic, clinical, wheelchair and tilt-rest data, as well as skill demonstration by those who reported that they were capable of doing so. Results Participants’ mean (SD) age was 55.1 (18.2) years, 38 (77.6%) were male, their mean (SD) duration of wheelchair use was 7.0 (10.4) years and their mean (SD) daily time spent in the wheelchair was 9.5 (4.6) hours. Twenty-seven (55.1%) of participants were aware of the skill, 20 (40.8%) reported being able to perform the skill and 16 (33.3%) could demonstrate it. Conclusion Just over half of manual wheelchair users are aware of the tilt-rest skill and one-third of them can perform it. Older people are less likely to report being able to complete the skill. These findings have implications for wheelchair skills training.