Changes in wheelchair biomechanics within the first 120 minutes of practice: spatiotemporal parameters, handrim forces, motor force, rolling resistance and fore-aft stability.

During manual wheelchair (MWC) skill acquisition, users adapt their propulsion technique through changes in biomechanical parameters. This evolution is assumed to be driven towards a more efficient behavior. However, when no specific training protocol is provided to users, little is known about how they spontaneously adapt during overground MWC locomotion.

Shoulder kinetics during start-up and propulsion with a manual wheelchair within the initial phase of uninstructed training.

Purpose: Wheelchair locomotion is constraining for the upper limbs and involves a set of motor tasks that need to be learnt by a novice user. To understand this integration process, we investigated the evolution of shoulder kinetics during start-up and propulsion within the initial phase of low-intensity uninstructed training.

Materials And Methods: Seventeen novice able-bodied subjects performed a 120-min uninstructed practice distributed over 4 weeks.

Effects of user's actions on rolling resistance and wheelchair stability during handrim wheelchair propulsion in the field.

Currently, rolling resistance and wheelchair stability during manual wheelchair propulsion can be assessed from the loads applied on the front and rear wheels, which are determined in a static condition. However, a user's actions on the wheelchair would change these loads during locomotion, which should affect both the rolling resistance and wheelchair stability. The goal of this study was to verify these assumptions and assess how much the rolling resistance and wheelchair stability are affected by the user's actions during propulsion.

Zeroing of six-component handrim dynamometer for biomechanical studies of manual wheelchair locomotion.

A six-component handrim dynamometer (HRD) is a dynamometer that rotates around the wheel axle during measurements. For this kind of dynamometer, static zero level calibration is insufficient because the proportion of the forces (i.e.

Assessment of field rolling resistance of manual wheelchairs.

This article proposes a simple and convenient method for assessing the subject-specific rolling resistance acting on a manual wheelchair, which could be used during the provision of clinical service. This method, based on a simple mathematical equation, is sensitive to both the total mass and its fore-aft distribution, which changes with the subject, wheelchair properties, and adjustments. The rolling resistance properties of three types of front casters and four types of rear wheels were determined for two indoor surfaces commonly encountered by wheelchair users (a hard smooth surface and carpet) from measurements of a three-dimensional accelerometer during field deceleration tests performed with artificial load.

Upper limb joint dynamics during manual wheelchair propulsion.

Background: Inverse dynamic methods have been widely used to estimate joint loads during manual wheelchair propulsion. However, the interpretation of 3D net joint moments and powers is not always straightforward. It has been suggested to use joint coordinate systems (expression of joint moment on anatomical axes) and the 3D angle between joint moment and angular velocity vectors (propulsion, resistance or stabilization joint configuration) for a better understanding of joint dynamics.

The 5 min running field test: test and retest reliability on trained men and women.

The repeatability of the maximal aerobic velocity ( v(amax)) estimated using the 5 min running field test (5(RFT)) has been examined in an heterogeneous population of 132 subjects distributed in five groups considering their sporting activities, their competition levels and their physical fitness levels: among them were national and local runners, rugby players, and multi-sport women and men. To establish the test and retest reliability, all the subjects took part in the 5(RFT) twice within 3 weeks. After the normality of distributions had been assessed using a Kolmogorov-Smirnov's test, a Student's paired t-test showed no difference between the two trials in all groups except that of the national runners.