D-2-5 Effect of rear wheel operation for manual wheelchair by helpers on user's riding comfort and helper's physical strain, navigating steps(General Session in English (2))

Abstract

Steps are one of the main factors that have an effect on the physical strain of wheelchair helpers and the safety of wheelchair users. In this study, we examined the relationship between the movement of the rear wheels of the wheelchair during the navigation of steps and we examined the relationship between the movement of the rear wheels of the wheelchair during the navigation of steps, and the physical strain of helpers and user's riding comfort. Although the maximum height that the rear wheels were lifted was controlled according to the step height, the distance driven during lifting rear wheels was not related to the step height. Helper's physical strain increased with the distance driven while rear wheels were lifted. When we analyzed the correlation coefficients among indexes for the rear-wheel locomotion, distance between rear wheels and step just before lifting had significant positive correlation with the distance driven while rear wheels were lifted. These findings suggest that the distance between the rear wheels and step just before lifting can be used as an operation index in the development of preferred techniques for lifting the rear wheels and thereby relieving the physical strain of helpers.