Background. This study aimed to describe how people move about in manual wheelchairs (MWCs) during everyday life by evaluating bouts of mobility or continuous periods of movement. Methods. A convenience sample of 28 MWC users was recruited. Participants' everyday mobility was measured using a wheel-mounted accelerometer and seat occupancy switch for 1-2 weeks. Bouts of mobility were recorded an...

− We developed a protocol for the assessment of manual wheelchair set-up and propulsion in a common clinical motion analysis laboratory. We also designed a device to detect hand contact on handrim. In a first phase, we took anthropometric and wheelchair geometric measures. Later, subjects propelled the wheelchair and, based on the experimental data on subjects’ movements and their effect on whe...

Securement of wheelchairs and occupant restraint for wheelchair riders on buses is one of the most difficult problems facing transit providers. The primary findings of this literature review show that (1) very little information has been published regarding transit bus safety and crash environment; (2) the focus of most reported wheelchair incidents involved noncollision events, in which inappr...

Shoulder pain is a common overuse problem in long-term adult wheelchair users. The current study examined whether the prevalence of shoulder pain in adult wheelchair users who began using their wheelchairs during childhood (childhood-onset [CH-O] group) is similar to those who began using their wheelchairs as adults (adult-onset [AD-O] group). We compared 31 CH-O and 22 AD-O wheelchair users us...

Wheelchair basketball players are classified in four classes based on the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) system of competition. Thus, the aim of the study was to ascertain if the IWBF classification, the type of injury and the wheelchair experience were related to different performance field-based tests. Thirteen basketball players undertook anthropometric measurements an...

A simple test rig was developed to measure the capacity of the lead-acid gel-electrolyte batteries used to power wheelchairs. Results of 166 tests revealed a wide scatter of battery life with different users and also showed that, in many cases, the two batteries used in a wheelchair became unequal in charge capacity after some time in use. It is recommended that pairs of batteries should be cha...

Lightweight wheelchairs are characterized by their low cost and limited range of adjustment. Our study evaluated three different folding lightweight wheelchair models using the American National Standards Institute/Rehabilitation Engineering Society of North America (ANSI/RESNA) standards to see whether quality had improved since the previous data were reported. On the basis of reports of incre...

Power wheelchairs are essential for many individuals with mobility impairment. The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of bimanual gliding (BG) and conventional joystick (CJ) control in an indoor environment, with application to (1) wheelchair driving performance (i.e., practice time, completion time, and driving deviation) and (2) muscle activity of the upper limbs. Th...

In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for automatic wheelchair-user detection from a surveillance video to support wheelchair users. However, it is difficult to detect them due to occlusions by surrounding pedestrians in a crowded scene. In this paper, we propose a detection method of wheelchair users robust to such occlusions. Concretely, in case the detector cannot a detect whe...

One of the basic problems of user on manual wheelchair is overcoming architectural barriers (kerbs, stairs etc.) on its way. Even though many research studies have been reported in different fields to increase the independence of wheelchair users, the question of overcoming obstacles by a wheelchair always remains as topic of discussion for many researchers. In this paper, the author has propos...