THE APPLICATION AND QUANTIFICATION OF PHYSICAL STRAIN DURING WHEELCHAIR LOCOMOTION ON A SLOPE

Abstract

A barrier-free environment in public facilities is being promoted by enforcing the “Transportation Accessibility Improvement Law” and “Accessible and Usable Building Law”. As a result, it has recently become necessary to quantify physical strain during utilization of public facilities, in order to evaluate the appropriate level of barrier free environment in public facilities. The present study, therefore, measured oxygen uptake, as an index of physical strain, during wheelchair and walking locomotion, on a treadmill that can simulate slopes. Oxygen demand against a given distance locomotion increased exponentially with the gradient at an uphill slope. Based on the combination of physical strain during wheelchair locomotion and distance, a slope of 4.0% and below should be recommended as the standard slope gradient. In addition, this study proposed a model for calculating wheelchair strain based on the relationship between the gradient of slope and oxygen demand.