A Comparison between Geared and Standard Wheelchair Wheels on Tile and Ramp Flooring

Mentor 1

Brooke Slavens

Location

Union Wisconsin Room

Start Date

29-4-2016 1:30 PM

End Date

29-4-2016 3:30 PM

Description

Approximately 3.3 million people in the U.S. use wheelchairs as their primary mobility device for everyday use [1], of which 90% use manual wheelchairs. However, shoulder pain and injuries are commonly associated with manual wheelchair use [2]. We aim to show how the geared manual wheelchair (GMW), a recently developed option available to manual wheelchair users, is biomechanically capable of making wheelchair propulsion easier. The GMW is similar to the standard manual wheelchair (SMW) but the gear mechanism in the wheel allows users to propel in a lower gear. There is limited data comparing the GMW and SMW in functional, everyday conditions. The goal of this study is to compare the shoulder, elbow, and wrist angles of the sagittal plane between geared manual wheelchairs and standard manual wheelchairs on tile and ramp flooring. Data collection involved six able-bodied subjects, 3 females and 3 males, ages 20-23. An acclimation period of 15 minutes was provided to the participants to familiarize themselves with wheelchair propulsion techniques before motion capture. Twenty-seven reflective markers were placed on the subject’s upper extremity and tracked at 120 Hz using a 15-camera Vicon motion capture system. Subjects propelled both the Easy Push (IntelliWheels, Inc.) geared manual wheelchair and the Breezy (Sunrise Medical, Inc.) standard manual wheelchair on tile flooring and up a ramp. The wrist, elbow, and shoulder joint angles of the dominate side were derived using a custom inverse dynamics model developed in Matlab [4] and analyzed during the wheelchair stroke cycle. There was a notable increase of 17% in the wrist range of motion (ROM) when using the GMW for both the tile and ramp conditions. The shoulder and elbow joints’ ROM remained unchanged. Overall, this study successfully compared upper extremity kinematics between GWM and SMW. Future directions include further dynamic analyses, joint kinetic evaluation and energetics assessment.

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Apr 29th, 1:30 PM Apr 29th, 3:30 PM

A Comparison between Geared and Standard Wheelchair Wheels on Tile and Ramp Flooring

Union Wisconsin Room

Approximately 3.3 million people in the U.S. use wheelchairs as their primary mobility device for everyday use [1], of which 90% use manual wheelchairs. However, shoulder pain and injuries are commonly associated with manual wheelchair use [2]. We aim to show how the geared manual wheelchair (GMW), a recently developed option available to manual wheelchair users, is biomechanically capable of making wheelchair propulsion easier. The GMW is similar to the standard manual wheelchair (SMW) but the gear mechanism in the wheel allows users to propel in a lower gear. There is limited data comparing the GMW and SMW in functional, everyday conditions. The goal of this study is to compare the shoulder, elbow, and wrist angles of the sagittal plane between geared manual wheelchairs and standard manual wheelchairs on tile and ramp flooring. Data collection involved six able-bodied subjects, 3 females and 3 males, ages 20-23. An acclimation period of 15 minutes was provided to the participants to familiarize themselves with wheelchair propulsion techniques before motion capture. Twenty-seven reflective markers were placed on the subject’s upper extremity and tracked at 120 Hz using a 15-camera Vicon motion capture system. Subjects propelled both the Easy Push (IntelliWheels, Inc.) geared manual wheelchair and the Breezy (Sunrise Medical, Inc.) standard manual wheelchair on tile flooring and up a ramp. The wrist, elbow, and shoulder joint angles of the dominate side were derived using a custom inverse dynamics model developed in Matlab [4] and analyzed during the wheelchair stroke cycle. There was a notable increase of 17% in the wrist range of motion (ROM) when using the GMW for both the tile and ramp conditions. The shoulder and elbow joints’ ROM remained unchanged. Overall, this study successfully compared upper extremity kinematics between GWM and SMW. Future directions include further dynamic analyses, joint kinetic evaluation and energetics assessment.