Abstract
We asked 13 residents of a welfare facility who self-operate wheelchairs to train trunk rotation movement using machine 5 times a week for 3 weeks. Eight with one-hand and leg operators and 5 both-hands operators were measured for trunk rotation strength and wheelchair propulsion ability before and after the training, and the differences of the effect on the wheelchair propulsion methods was assessed. In both groups the trunk rotation strength improved significantly. The wheelchair propulsion ability showed no changes in to and fro 2.5-m propulsion time and 6-minutes propulsion distance in both groups. Both-hands operators took significantly longer than one-hand and leg operators in 5-m propulsion time before the training, but there were no differences between both groups after the training. These results suggest that 3 weeks training of trunk rotation exercise improved the trunk rotation strength in both groups and that the propulsion speed of both-hands operators is improved to the same level as that one-hand and leg operators.
