The stool on wheels evolved from a wooden four-legged stool that was used by the therapist to sit on to treat patients who were standing, sitting, or kneeling. For such treatments maneuvering around the patient was difficult and so wheels were added.
Early versions had wheels that would only move in one plane meaning you could only move forward and backward which even though it was an improvement on the wooden stool it still had its limitations. The development of castors allowed for movement in any direction and smooth movement over various floor coverings.
Today the stool on wheels comes in numerous forms, from wooden or metal frames and the seat in a variety of shapes from square, round, oval, and saddle.
All these developments were mainly driven from manual handling rules to reduce strain on the therapist from bending, twisting, and lifting whilst moving around the patient during treatment.
Description provided by Menna Thomas of Wales, UK.
