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Seat and Footrest Shocks and Vibrations in Manual Wheelchairs With and Without Suspension

By Cooper, Rory A., PhD; Wolf, Erik; Fitzgerald, Shirley G., PhD; Boninger, Michael L.; Ulerich, Rhys; Ammer, William A.; Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Vol. 84, No. 1, pp. 96-102
Publication Date: January 2003

Study examining differences in the shock and vibration transmitted to an occupant of a manual wheelchair with and without suspension. Six manual wheelchairs were tested; three were rear-suspension wheelchairs: (1) the Quickie XTR, (2) the Invacare A6S, and (3) the Everest and Jennings Barracuda; three contained no suspension system: (1) an ultralight Quickie, (2) an ultralight Kuschall 3000, and (3) a folding lightweight Kuschall Champion 1000. The wheelchairs were selected because they represent a cross-section of common frame styles used on ultralight wheelchairs. A wheelchair test dummy and a Hybrid III test dummy were used to test shock and vibration transmission in the wheelchairs. Data were collected using two triaxial accelerometers. A custom data-collection program was written with LabView software to interface with a data-acquisition card. The acceleration data were calibrated and converted for analysis in custom software written with MATLAB. Significant differences were found in the peak accelerations at the seat and footrest between the wheelchairs with suspension systems and those without. The authors concluded that wheelchairs with suspension reduce the shock and vibration exposure to people who use manual wheelchairs.

Assistive Products Discussed: QUICKIE TI TITANIUM
VISION BARRACUDA
KUSCHALL CHAMPION
Published by: W.B. Saunders Company, a division of Elsevier Health Sciences   (Website:http://us.elsevierhealth.com)

American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation    (Web Site: http://www.aapmr.org/ )
American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine    (Web Site: http://www.acrm.org )
This publication is included in the library of the National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC), accession number J45009
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