STEERING-BY-LEANING: FEASIBILITY OF UTILIZING DYNAMIC BACKRESTS TO CONTROL STEERING IN MANUAL WHEELCHAIRS
Open access
Autor(in)
Alle anzeigen
Datum
2023Typ
- Journal Article
ETH Bibliographie
yes
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Abstract
Objective: Steering-by-leaning is a promising inn-ovation for manual wheelchairs. It may enable improved energy efficiency, one-handed manoeuv-rability, and increased trunk activity during wheel-chair use in daily life. To explore the feasibility of this concept, the lateral trunk function of active wheelchair users was assessed before comparing 3 preliminary dynamic backrest designs in a virtual steering exercise.Design: Repeated measures, cross-over study.Subjects: A convenience sample of 15 individuals who had been full-time users of manual wheelchair for at least 1 year.Methods: Active core strength and lateral leaning range of motion were captured while sitting freely. Participants subsequently tested 3 dynamic wheel-chair backrest designs on an individually adjusted laboratory wheelchair prototype by performing a virtual steering exercise. Deviations from a target movement path were analysed using repeated mea-sures analysis of variance and Pearson correlation coefficients.Results: Functional leaning range of motion ranged from below 10 degrees to almost 70 degrees, but increased sig-nificantly with use of the simplest backrest design based on a 2-dimensional hinge joint. No corre-lation was found between functional levels and performance parameters in the virtual steering exercise.Conclusion: Using an individually fitted and calibra-ted design, upper body-actuated wheelchair stee-ring using a laterally tilting backrest is accessible to wheelchair users across a wide spectrum of phy-sical abilities. Mehr anzeigen
Persistenter Link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000610184Publikationsstatus
publishedExterne Links
Zeitschrift / Serie
Journal of Rehabilitation MedicineBand
Seiten / Artikelnummer
Verlag
Foundation for Rehabilitation InformationThema
dynamic sitting; motion control; range of motion; usability; wheelchair-user-interaction; trunk movement; leaning; steeringETH Bibliographie
yes
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