Shoulder Joint Kinetics During Wheelchair Propulsion on a Treadmill at Two Different Speeds in Spinal Cord Injury Patients
By Gil-Agudo, A.; Del Ama-Espinosa, A.; Perez-Rizo, E.; Perez-Nombela, S.; Crespo-Ruiz, B.; Spinal Cord, Vol. 48, No. 4, pp. 290-296Publication Date: April 2010
Study undertaken to analyze shoulder kinetics while propelling a wheelchair placed on a treadmill and to compare shoulder joint net forces and moments when changing wheelchair propulsion speed. Two hypotheses were tested: (1) shoulder joint net forces and moments found when propelling a wheelchair on a treadmill would be of lower magnitude than those found in other studies conducted on ergometers and dynamometers; and (2) shoulder joint net forces and moments would vary at different speeds of propulsion. Participants were 3 women and 13 men with complete spinal cord injury and a mean age of 37.5 years. Participants propelled a standard adjustable wheelchair placed on a treadmill at 3 and 4 kilometers per hour. Kinematic right upper limb data were collected using an analysis system consisting of 4 camcorders and a SMARTWheel, a kinetic device that registers the contact force of the hand on the pushrim. An inverse dynamic model allowed shoulder joint net forces and moments to be calculated from the contact force of the hand on the pushrim and kinematic data. Results confirmed the two working hypotheses: the shoulder joint net forces and moments found were lower on the treadmill than on other devices reviewed, possibly due to comparably lower friction, and shoulder joint net forces and moments depended strongly on the propulsion speed, increasing in magnitude when speed increased from 3 to 4 kilometers per hour.
Assistive Products Discussed: SMARTWHEEL
Published by: Nature Publishing Group (Website:http://www.nature.com)
International Spinal Cord Injury Society (Web Site: http://www.iscos.org.uk )
