Effects of Efficient Handles on the Biomechanics of thepper Extremities during Wheelchair Propulsion
Date Issued
2009
Date
2009
Author(s)
Li, Jia-Da
Abstract
Manual wheelchair is the most familiar wheelchair and is most common in use. According to the research, high percentage of long-term manual wheelchair users may have complications of muscular-skeletal system problems in upper extremities. In consideration of poor stroke efficiency during pushrim propulsion, force applied on pushrim couldn’t fully transform to axial moment to drive wheelchairs. Dr. Lu brought up a patent design of efficient handles in 2004 to improve the shortcomings of pushrim. This study performed biomechanical analysis including kinematics and kinetics to validate efficacy of the efficient handles. Upper limb model and global optimization method were involved to evaluate accurate and complete kinematics data. Five able-bodied volunteer subjects were recruited. ViconMX system and instrumented wheelchair were used to capture twenty-two infrared-retroreflective markers and measure the applying force during wheelchair propulsion. Five trials were captured during efficient handle and pushrim propulsion, respectively. The subjects were well practiced before the experiments. The results showed less applying force and larger axial moment during efficient handle propulsion. Efficient handle’s stroke efficiency is higher than pushrim. According to the results of kinematics, increasing range of joint rotation in the transverse plane and reducing internal rotation of humerus were found at this study when using efficient handle. Efficient handle also reduces longitudinal joint force and joint moment along the abduction/adduction axis.
Subjects
upper extremity model
wheelchair propulsion
efficient handle
motion analysis
Type
thesis
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