SmartWheel & Propulsion Biomechanics
Wheelchair propulsion is an essential activity of daily living for many individuals with mobility impairments – it is required to participate in society. Using a wheelchair over a long period of time has been associated with an increased risk of repetitive strain injury to the upper extremities. For better understanding of the physical demands on the upper extremities during wheelchair propulsion, SMARTWheel, an instrumented handrim designed by HERL, has enabled us to discover the mechanisms of repetitive strain injuries.
The SMARTWheel measures push forces, frequency, length, smoothness, and speed. It is available in 22, 24, 25 or 26" sizes and creates automated reports that allow therapists to optimize wheelchair set-up and push style to reduce repetitive stress. The SMARTWheel (SW) was designed to measure forces and torques on everyday wheelchair handrims. The data from the SW can be used to help wheelchair users prevent injury from these forces and to improve their propulsion techniques.
However, the SW is not capable of measuring the extreme forces and torques that are present when propelling racing wheelchairs, and the Racing SMARTWheel (RSW) was created to measure these specific forces and torques. The RSW is now being tested to investigate whether or not data gained from it can be used to help coaches improve an athlete's racing strokes via body positioning and/or thermoplastic racing gloves. The hypotheses of this study propose that the maximum peak resultant force, maximum torque, and maximum velocity of a wheelchair athlete will increase during a sprint while using thermoplastic gloves or after reconfiguring the seating position, and that the RSW is capable of detecting these increases. Studies are being conducted to analyze the resulting data using a MATLAB code designed to calculate the maximum peak resultant force, maximum torque, and maximum velocity of each stroke; and the entire data set to determine whether or not the hypotheses are viable.
HERL’s Clinical Biomechanics Laboratory has investigated the field of wheelchair biomechanics since HERL’s founding and has led to important research findings, leading to the creation of the clinical practice guidelines for the preservation of upper limb function. These research findings (for example, the discovery of the most efficient way to propel a manual wheelchair) improve the clinical service delivery process to the benefit of people with disabilities. Our future work in this area will focus on wider accessibility and the easier use of research data resources through smartphone apps to a broader group of clinicians, scientists, and millions of wheelchair users in the world.
