Drummer can get onto his stool

The challenge

A professional drummer with Motor Neurone Disease could onto the stool for his drum kit from his wheel chair, as he has quite strong arms. He did this by shuffling forward over the stool , leaving  the wheelchair behind him.

This method of getting onto the stool meant that there could not be a fixed back rest as it would get in the way during transfers. So some means of folding the backrest down while transferring was needed, preferably allowing him to get the backrest back up and fixed unaided.

The solution

The stool and backrest were commercially available items that the client had already procured. So these had to be modified in some way allowing the backrest to drop out of the way to allow him to get on the stool, and then bring it back and secure it in place.Various solutions were considered – including electric motors, levers to operate a latch from the front of the stool etc., but it was realised , and tested with the client that he could reach around behind him and fix the backrest himself. This is due to the fact that the MND has not greatly affected his upper body – allowing him to play drums in the first place! So the solution was to make a simple mechanism to allow the backrest to drop down to the floor on a pivot, and then be brought up again and clamped with a simple bolt. The seat base was reinforced with a plywood disc to strengthen the assembly.

The benefit

The client is now able to play the drums for around 20 to 30 minutes, whereas previously he could only manage around 5 minutes.He is able to can get onto the stool and fix the backrest from his wheelchair, and return to his chair unaided.