Reliability and minimal detectable change of a new treadmill-based progressive workload incremental test to measure cardiorespiratory fitness in manual wheelchair users.

Background: Cardiorespiratory fitness training is commonly provided to manual wheelchair users (MWUs) in rehabilitation and physical activity programs, emphasizing the need for a reliable task-specific incremental wheelchair propulsion test.

Objective: Quantifying test-retest reliability and minimal detectable change (MDC) of key cardiorespiratory fitness measures following performance of a newly developed continuous treadmill-based wheelchair propulsion test (WPT).

Methods: Twenty-five MWUs completed the WPT on two separate occasions within one week. During these tests, participants continuously propelled their wheelchair on a motorized treadmill while the exercise intensity was gradually increased every minute until exhaustion by changing the slope and/or speed according to a standardized protocol. Peak oxygen consumption (VO), carbon dioxide production (VCO), respiratory exchange ratio (RER), minute ventilation (VE) and heart rate (HR) were computed. Time to exhaustion (TTE) and number of increments completed were also measured. Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) were calculated to determine test-retest reliability. Standard error of measurement (SEM) and MDC values were calculated.

Results: Excellent test-retest reliability was reached for almost all outcome measures (ICC=0.91-0.76), except for RER (ICC=0.58), which reached good reliability. TTE (ICC=0.89) and number of increments (ICC=0.91) also reached excellent test-retest reliability. For the main outcome measures (VO and TTE), absolute SEM was 2.27 mL/kg/min and 0.76 minutes, respectively and absolute MDC was 5.30 mL/kg/min and 1.77 minutes, respectively.

Conclusion: The WPT is a reliable test to assess cardiorespiratory fitness among MWUs. TTE and number of increments could be used as reliable outcome measures when VO measurement is not possible.