Evaluation of Wrist Kinematics during Geared Manual Wheelchair Propulsion in Veterans with Spinal Cord Injury
Mentor 1
Brooke Slavens
Location
Union Wisconsin Room
Start Date
27-4-2018 1:00 PM
Description
In the United States, there are about 3.33 million people who use manual wheelchairs for mobility. Manual wheelchair users rely on the upper limbs for both mobility and daily living activities. Manual wheelchair mobility puts users at high risk of repetitive strain injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Constant or frequent wrist orientations at extreme limits have been proven to cause median nerve damage and eventually lead to CTS (Keir et al.). CTS develops in 49%-63% of manual wheelchair users and causes numbness and pain in the hands and wrists (Zukowski et al.), decreasing a manual wheelchair user’s quality of life. Propelling a wheelchair using more neutral wrist orientations would decrease the risk of developing CTS. Geared manual wheelchairs could be an alternative to decrease applied wrist forces and avoid wrist injuries. We hypothesized that using a geared wheel system compared to standard direct-drive wheels will result in improved wrist joint angles during wheelchair propulsion. Three complete paraplegic veterans with spinal cord injury will propel their wheelchairs on level-floor using the Intelliwheels geared wheelchair wheels (Intelliwheels, Inc., IL) in both the geared (gear ration of 1.5:1) and non-geared (direct drive with a gear ratio of 1:1) settings. Wrist joint motion will be tracked using a 15 camera Vicon analysis system. A custom biomechanical model will be used to calculate the two-dimensional wrist joint angles during the propulsion tasks, and peak angles and range of motion will be determined in each plane. Group average angular data will be compared between the wheel types to evaluate the effect of geared manual wheelchair propulsion on wrist joint kinematics. This information will help determine the possible benefits of geared wheel systems on wrist health of manual wheelchair users.
Evaluation of Wrist Kinematics during Geared Manual Wheelchair Propulsion in Veterans with Spinal Cord Injury
Union Wisconsin Room
In the United States, there are about 3.33 million people who use manual wheelchairs for mobility. Manual wheelchair users rely on the upper limbs for both mobility and daily living activities. Manual wheelchair mobility puts users at high risk of repetitive strain injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Constant or frequent wrist orientations at extreme limits have been proven to cause median nerve damage and eventually lead to CTS (Keir et al.). CTS develops in 49%-63% of manual wheelchair users and causes numbness and pain in the hands and wrists (Zukowski et al.), decreasing a manual wheelchair user’s quality of life. Propelling a wheelchair using more neutral wrist orientations would decrease the risk of developing CTS. Geared manual wheelchairs could be an alternative to decrease applied wrist forces and avoid wrist injuries. We hypothesized that using a geared wheel system compared to standard direct-drive wheels will result in improved wrist joint angles during wheelchair propulsion. Three complete paraplegic veterans with spinal cord injury will propel their wheelchairs on level-floor using the Intelliwheels geared wheelchair wheels (Intelliwheels, Inc., IL) in both the geared (gear ration of 1.5:1) and non-geared (direct drive with a gear ratio of 1:1) settings. Wrist joint motion will be tracked using a 15 camera Vicon analysis system. A custom biomechanical model will be used to calculate the two-dimensional wrist joint angles during the propulsion tasks, and peak angles and range of motion will be determined in each plane. Group average angular data will be compared between the wheel types to evaluate the effect of geared manual wheelchair propulsion on wrist joint kinematics. This information will help determine the possible benefits of geared wheel systems on wrist health of manual wheelchair users.
