Measurement and Evaluation of Anthropometric Data of Nigerian Adult Paraplegics for Wheelchair Design

Mechanical Engineering Department University of Uyo, Nigeria. Production Engineering Department, University of Benin, Nigeria. Corresponding Author: Ashiedu, Festus ________________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract The epidiomological conditions associated with manual wheelchair propulsion had remained a daunting challenge to the medical profession, the disabled and designers of wheelchairs in Nigeria. The health challenges suffered by these disabled, in addition to weakening national gross domestic product (GDP), also reduces their self esteem. In Nigeria today, locally designed wheelchair are copied from those of United States and European designs. Similarly, persons with disabilities usually receive wheelchair from national and international organizations as donations for use. However, no assurance is provided whether the locally made wheelchairs or the donated ones are appropriate to the intended users. Till date, no study aimed at matching anthropometric details of users to the existing wheelchairs had been carried out. Majority of Nigerian paraplegics can not afford these wheelchairs hence they resort to the use of wheeled board that can be easily fabricated but rather too tasking to use. The aim of this study therefore, is to carry out anthropometric survey, identify musculoskeletal disorders, evaluate the general design characteristics of these imported wheelchairs and establish the match – mismatch characteristics among users of manual wheelchairs. To achieve this, twelve anthropometric variables were taken from 100 paraplegics. The design characteristics of the imported wheelchairs were also taken. A miss-match analysis of the anthropometric measurements and the corresponding wheelchair dimensions was done using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) test statistic. Results showed that at 99 percent level of significance; most wheelchairs do not fit their users. Our survey confirms that a high rate of low back disorders, pressure sores and other muscular skeletal disorders were recorded. The proposed monocoque obviates the need to use either the wheeled board or foreign wheelchairs that mismatches Nigerian paraplegics. __________________________________________________________________________________________