Effect of Pedal Wheelchair Use on Daily Living Activities and Gait Ability of Elderly Dialysis Inpatients

Abstract

[Purpose] To investigate whether use of a pedal wheelchair affects the daily living activities and gait ability of dialysis inpatients. [Subjects and Methods] Ten dialysis inpatients were divided into two groups. The control group received physical therapy, and the experimental group performed pedal wheelchair exercise in addition to physical therapy. The experiment was conducted over a benchmark period of 8 months and an intervention period of 13 months; and the evaluation items were 10-m walking time (10mT), 6-min walking distance (6MD), and the Barthel Index (BI). The effect was analyzed using the percentage of non-overlapping data (PND). [Result] The numbers of subjects showing an effect according to PND in the experimental and control groups were respectively 3 and 0 for 6MD, 3 and 1 for 10mT, and 1 and 0 for BI. [Conclusion] Since the experimental group showed a certain level of improvement in gait ability, we consider that the pedal wheelchair is an effective intervention.