Handrim wheelchair propulsion is a cyclic skill that needs to be learned during rehabilitation. Yet it is unclear how inter-individual differences in motor learning impact wheelchair propulsion practice. Therefore we studied how early-identified motor learning styles in novice able-bodied participants impact the outcome of a low-intensity wheelchair-practice intervention. Over a 12-minute pre-t...

Ten full-time adolescent wheelchair users (ages 13-18) completed a total of three propulsion trials on carpet and tile surfaces, at a self-selected velocity, and on a concrete surface, at a controlled velocity. All trials were performed in their personal wheelchair with force and moment sensing wheels attached bilaterally. The first two trials on each surface were used as pre-intervention contr...

The primary purpose of this study was to compare static and dynamic optimization muscle force and work predictions during the push phase of wheelchair propulsion. A secondary purpose was to compare the differences in predicted shoulder and elbow kinetics and kinematics and handrim forces. The forward dynamics simulation minimized differences between simulated and experimental data (obtained fro...

Currently, there is limited research of the biomechanics of pediatric manual wheelchair mobility. Specifically, the biomechanics of functional tasks and their relationship to joint pain and health is not well understood. To contribute to this knowledge gap, a quantitative rehabilitation approach was applied for characterizing upper extremity biomechanics of manual wheelchair mobility in childre...

BACKGROUND The hand pattern used during manual wheelchair propulsion (i.e., full-cycle hand path) can provide insight into an individual's propulsion technique. However, previous analyses of hand patterns have been limited by their focus on a single propulsion condition and reliance on subjective qualitative characterization methods. The purpose of this study was to develop a set of objective q...