Does Cerebral Palsy impact temperature regulation?
WheelAir users have been at the heart of the company since day 1. Their experiences with overheating, over-sweating, and temperature regulation have always motivated our team to continuously expand and improve the WheelAir product range. Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing information about different medical conditions that affect temperature regulation and how WheelAir can make an impact.
Cerebral Palsy is experienced differently from person to person. For some, temperature regulation issues affect their day-to-day life.
Sophie, a WheelAir PRO, struggles with overheating in her wheelchair because of her cerebral palsy. While overheating is uncomfortable, this also leads to muscle spasms.
“When I overheat, I get bad spasms in my back and legs and my body can’t function well. It’s really painful and I kind of lose control of my muscles, it’s tense, it’s tight, it’s not comfortable at all…” – Sophie
For Gemma, she mentions that “for those with cerebral palsy, it is hard to regulate your body’s temperature… but it is different to a spinal injury because we can actually sweat. Our problem is more that we have poor circulation.”
How does WheelAir help?
Through active airflow, WheelAir allows for self regulation of the body temperature through convection, conduction and evaporation heat loss. Many WheelAir users turn on the fans as a preventative measure, meaning at the start of the day or activity they start with a low setting to keep them cool. If they feel they are getting too warm, they increase the fan speeds to prevent overheating.
How to get WheelAir
Speak to your clinician, use our Knowledge page to fully understand the health implications of overheating, over-sweating and the influence of microclimate on skin integrity, look at our Case Studiesand understand your clinical need to help aid the wheelchair service decision.
WheelAir can also be bought directly on our website or through our partners.
If you are a healthcare professional and looking for more information, please visit our knowledge page or drop the team a message at info@wheelair.co.uk.