Rodrigues Trigo Pereira, F. (Francisca) (2019) A newly developed lever-propelled wheelchair reduces physiological responses and improves wheelchair control in healthy wheelchair-inexperienced adults. thesis, Human Movement Sciences.
Full text available on request.Abstract
Objective The main goal of this study was to investigate physiological responses of a newly developed single-lever wheelchair (RoChair) and its control, and compare it to the conventional hand-rim wheelchair during a low-intensity steady state exercise on a motor driven treadmill. Methods Thirty able-bodied young adults were randomly distributed in two groups: hand-rim wheelchair group (HRW) and lever wheelchair group, RoChair (LW). The protocol consisted in five sessions of 16 minutes each. Information about heart rate, energy expenditure, oxygen uptake, carbon dioxide, minute ventilation, mechanical efficiency and wheelchair control were collected, processed and further analyzed. Repeated measures ANOVA were performed for all variables, testing for group, time and interaction effects. Results Physiological parameters, such as EE, VO2, VCO2, and VE were significantly lower for the RoChair, a lever-propelled wheelchair, when compared with the conventional hand-rim. Treadmill control was also better, when considering the lower left-right deviation of the lever-wheelchair. GME and HR showed no significant difference. Conclusion RoChair has presented to be a good alternative way of locomotion. Although no differences in GME were clear, lower values for energetic responses, decreased HR over time and easier control for the lever-wheelchair are a good starting point to encourage more investigation. Future studies should focus on testing different workloads, as well as, joint loads and muscle activation. Keywords lever propulsion; energy expenditure; RoChair; control
| Item Type: | Thesis (UNSPECIFIED) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Vegter, dr. R.J.K. and Woude, prof. dr. L.H.V. van der |
| Faculty: | Medical Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 20 May 2022 09:35 |
| Last Modified: | 20 May 2022 09:35 |
| URI: | https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3374 |
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