Comparison of overground and treadmill propulsion patterns of manual wheelchair users with tetraplegia.

Purpose: The purpose of this investigation was to compare overground and treadmill propulsion patterns in persons with tetraplegia.

Methods: In this case series study, we recruited eight adult subjects with tetraplegia (5 men and 3 women, aged 32.5 ± 9.5). All subjects used manual wheelchairs. We used a video motion capture system to record movements as the subject manually wheeled overground and on a treadmill. We classified propulsion patterns into one of four patterns and measured five different geometric variables of each pattern. We compared them statistically using ANOVA.

Results: There were significant differences in max height/max length x 100 (H/L%) between propulsion over ground (mean 20% ± 15.3/Lhand, mean 21.3% ± 16.5/Rhand) versus propulsion on treadmill surfaces (roller: mean 30.9% ± 11.2/Lhand, mean 33.5% ± 12.8/Rhand; belted: mean 27.7% ± 8.7/Lhand, mean 34.9% ± 14.2/Rhand) and between the left and right hand.

Conclusion: Results indicated area and H/L% were different among the three surface types and between right and left sides. Caution must be used in extrapolating treadmill results to propulsion over ground or in assuming bilateral symmetry.