Cushions and backrests
The chair is the frame. The cushion is what a person actually sits on for ten hours a day.
Foam, gel, air and hybrid cushions, and contoured backrests that replace stretched sling upholstery. Chosen against skin risk and trunk control rather than off a size chart.
Which cushion protects this person?
Seating is a clinical decision, not a comfort preference. Three questions put you in the right category, and getting it wrong in either direction causes problems.
Question 1 of 3
Positioning devices, including cushions and back supports, are an Assistive Devices Program category at up to 75 percent of the approved cost. They can be funded as part of a wheelchair prescription or on their own where the chair was funded previously. An authorizer assessment is required.
We will confirm what you actually pay in writing before anything is ordered. Nothing on this page is a quote.
The frame outlasts everything. The seating is what stops working.
A wheelchair frame will run for years with tyres and bearings. What degrades is the seating: foam compresses and stops redistributing, air cells develop slow leaks, and sling upholstery stretches into a hammock that pulls the pelvis backwards and the spine sideways.
None of it is visible. A cushion that has bottomed out looks identical to a new one, and the first sign is often a red area over the sitting bones that should never have happened. Seating is a consumable, and it is the part of a wheelchair worth checking every year.
It compresses permanently
Foam loses its ability to redistribute load over time. Press down to the base with your hand: if you feel the board, it is finished.
Slow leaks are invisible
Air cushions need checking regularly for inflation. An underinflated air cushion offers less protection than a good foam one.
Upholstery becomes a hammock
Stretched sling upholstery tips the pelvis back and lets the trunk collapse sideways. It happens gradually enough that nobody notices.
People change shape
Weight loss, weight gain and changing posture all alter what the seating must do. Worth reassessing, not just replacing like for like.
Matched to risk, not to budget.
Hours seated, whether the person can shift their weight, and whether skin has broken down. Those three answers pick one of these.
Contoured or layered high specification foam. Light, stable to transfer from, nothing to maintain and nothing to fail.
A gel pad set into foam under the sitting bones, spreading load and running cooler over long hours.
Interconnected air cells that let the pelvis sink in and distribute load across the whole surface. The highest protection available.
Air cells over a foam base, so it keeps working if pressure is lost and gives a more stable base for transfers than air alone.
Sling upholstery is a temporary solution that becomes permanent.
Almost every folding wheelchair leaves the factory with a fabric sling back, because it folds. Within a year of daily use that sling has stretched, and it now curves backwards in the middle, rolling the pelvis back and letting the trunk fall sideways.
A contoured backrest replaces it with a shaped shell that supports the trunk where it needs support and leaves room where it does not. Height matters: too low and there is nothing holding the trunk, too high and it restricts a self-propeller’s shoulders.
Signs the seating needs looking at
None of these are dramatic. All of them mean it is time for a reassessment, and it is free.
Any redness that lingers
A red mark over the sitting bones still there twenty minutes after getting up is stage one of a pressure injury. Call us that week.
Sliding forward in the chair
Usually a seating problem rather than a behaviour problem. The cushion contour or back angle is pushing the pelvis out of position.
Leaning to one side
A trunk that has started to fall sideways needs lateral support before the curve becomes fixed. This one is time sensitive.
Feeling the base
Press the cushion to the board with your palm while seated. If you can feel the base under the sitting bones, it has bottomed out.
Cushions and backrests are ADP funded.
Positioning devices, including cushions, back supports and head supports, are funded under the Assistive Devices Program at up to 75 percent of the approved cost for an eligible applicant. They can be funded as part of a wheelchair prescription or on their own where the chair itself was funded previously.
ODSP, March of Dimes Canada, the MS Society and Muscular Dystrophy Canada also fund seating. We are an authorized vendor for all of them and complete the applications, and where there is documented skin breakdown the clinical case is considerably stronger.
You are buying privately
Cushions are one of the few things where a same-day fitting is realistic. Bring the chair to Brampton and we will fit and adjust it with the person sitting in it.
You want ADP to fund it
Cushions and back supports are ADP positioning devices at up to 75 percent, fundable even where the chair itself was funded previously. An authorizer assessment is needed and we arrange it.
It is more than you have
Say so, especially if there is redness. Skin damage costs far more to treat than any cushion. We will find the best protection your budget reaches and start a funding application alongside.
Questions about wheelchair seating
If yours is not here, call us on 905 451-7743. A person answers during business hours.
Does ADP cover cushions and backrests?
Yes. Positioning devices, including cushions, back supports and head supports, are an Assistive Devices Program category at up to 75 percent of the approved cost for an eligible applicant. They can be funded as part of a wheelchair prescription or on their own where the chair was funded previously. An ADP-registered authorizer assessment is required.
How often should a wheelchair cushion be replaced?
It depends on the material and the hours of use, but every cushion is a consumable. Foam compresses permanently, air cells develop slow leaks and covers wear through. The practical test is to press down while seated: if you can feel the base under the sitting bones, it has bottomed out and is no longer protecting anything.
Which cushion do I need?
Three questions decide it: how many hours a day the person sits, whether they can shift their own weight, and whether skin has broken down before. Foam suits low risk, gel adds redistribution and cooling, air cells give the highest protection, and hybrids combine air with a stable foam base.
Why replace the sling back with a contoured backrest?
Sling upholstery stretches with use into a backwards curve, which rolls the pelvis back and lets the trunk collapse sideways. It happens slowly enough that nobody notices until posture has changed. A contoured backrest supports the trunk properly and can be angled and adjusted.
Are air cushions difficult to look after?
They need checking regularly for correct inflation, because an underinflated air cushion protects less than a good foam one. It takes a minute. If nobody in the household will reliably check it, a hybrid or gel cushion is the safer specification.
Can I use any cushion with any wheelchair?
Broadly, if the dimensions match, but seat width and depth have to be right and the cushion has to sit properly in the frame. A cushion two inches too wide bunches at the sides; too narrow and it leaves the thighs unsupported. We measure rather than matching sizes on a box.
My relative keeps sliding forward. Is that a seating problem?
Almost always, yes. Sliding forward usually means the cushion contour or the back angle is pushing the pelvis out of position, and it is corrected by changing the seating rather than by repositioning the person repeatedly. It is worth an assessment.
Do you fit seating, or just sell it?
We fit it. Measurements taken from the person, the cushion and backrest installed on the chair, and the position adjusted with the person sitting in it. Seating supplied in a box and left for someone to fit themselves rarely ends up in the right position.
What if there is already a pressure sore?
Then this becomes urgent rather than routine. Ring us the same week. An existing wound moves the requirement to the highest protection category, and it also makes any funding application considerably stronger because the clinical need is documented.
Do cushions help with posture as well as skin?
Yes, and the two are related. A cushion that lets the pelvis tilt or slide changes the whole spine above it, which then loads the skin unevenly. Contoured cushions address position and pressure together, which is why they are specified as a pair with the backrest.
How long does a fitting take?
Usually under an hour. We measure, fit, and then watch the person sit in it and adjust from there. Bringing the chair in is ideal; if that is not possible we come to you anywhere in the GTA at no charge.
Can you supply cushions for a chair you did not sell?
Yes, and we do it constantly. Bring the chair or tell us the make and model. Because we carry several seating manufacturers we can usually match something to an existing frame rather than requiring a new chair.
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Book a free seating assessment
We measure the person, look at the current seating and check for pressure marks. If what you have is fine we will say so.