For many wheelchair users, hours of sitting can trigger painful and even life-changing health issues. Pressure injuries caused by constant sitting, heat, and friction are common and often slow to heal.
Tarkka Manufacturing Solutions, a Calgary-based advanced materials company, is bringing aerospace and defence manufacturing techniques to healthcare. Their innovation, Tetrx™, delivers custom-engineered seating that improves comfort, reduces the risk of injury, and promotes greater independence for wheelchair users.
“We are applying advanced composites and additive manufacturing techniques from aerospace and defence industries to revolutionize wheelchair seating,” says Brett Quigley, President and Founder of Tarkka Manufacturing Solutions. “Our technology redistributes pressure away from areas known to cause pressure injuries and improves stability and upper body support, which supports faster healing and better overall lifelong outcomes.”
Tarkka delivers a custom contoured seating system in a single 75-minute visit using proprietary Sit to Fit™ technology. This process eliminates the industry standard model of multiple appointments spanning weeks or months, a workflow that often creates backlogs and delays access for users. Each Tetrx™ system is manufactured directly to the individual at the point of care using advanced composite materials, ensuring an immediate and accurate fit.
This approach brings aerospace-grade manufacturing precision to the clinic. It replaces traditional one-size-fits-all seating and the multi-week custom build process with a precise, individualized fit tailored to the user’s specific needs in a single visit.
The result is highly durable, hygiene-friendly, personalized support that properly distributes weight, regulates temperature, and limits friction, issues that traditional seating and positioning systems often fail to address.
“From a clinical standpoint, the system simplifies fitting and reduces follow-up adjustments, which means more time focused on patient progress,” Quigley adds. “For people with lived experience, that translates into greater comfort, longer daily use, improved independence, and reduced clinical visits.”
Support from the Glenrose Hospital Foundation Research and Innovation program, funded by Prairies Economic Development Canada, has been instrumental in bringing this aerospace-grade manufacturing technology from concept to clinic.
“Federal investment through Glenrose and Prairies Economic Development Canada is vital when funding access is most critical for early-stage companies,” says Quigley. “By helping companies like ours protect intellectual property and build manufacturing capacity, these programs ensure that Canadian technologies do not just get invented here, they get built here, creating Canadian jobs, value, and global competitiveness.”
“The Glenrose Hospital Foundation supports innovations that deliver measurable improvements in care and recovery,” says Mark Korthuis, President and CEO of the Glenrose Hospital Foundation. “Tarkka technology is a powerful example of how advanced manufacturing can enhance patient comfort and rehabilitation.”
By bringing aerospace and defence manufacturing techniques to healthcare, innovators like Tarkka are reshaping the future of rehabilitation. Guided by advanced materials engineering and a deep understanding of patient and CRT industry needs, they are turning everyday challenges into meaningful breakthroughs that restore comfort, mobility, and independence.
