Manual Wheelchair Speed, Maneuverability, and Endurance and Community Access

Allina Health System1 enrolled

Overview

This is a cross-section correlational study that will examine the relationships between wheelchair speed, maneuverability, and endurance with community integration. By identifying which of these has the biggest contribution to community participation, the information will be used to justify continues therapy, to alter the focus of therapy, and to justify purchase of power or power assist wheelchairs when needed. Currently, therapists make the recommendation for a power or power assist chair based on their clinical judgement and the patient's experience, but there has been limited justification from the literature for these decisions. Finally, because the CHART measure is the gold standard in rehabilitation research for community integration, but has psychometric problems, we will use this opportunity to validate a new more psychometrically solid measure, the PART-O, against the CHART.

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

Conditions

Physical Disability

Interventions

Life Space Assessment ScaleOTHER

This nine question survey asks participants where they have gone in the last week, frequency of those visits, and how independently they went there.

6-Minute Push TestOTHER

The 6 Minute Push Test is a measure of endurance, and requires that the participant wheel themselves around two pylons that are located 15 meters apart for 6 minutes.

Forward Push TestOTHER

This measure of wheelchair propulsion speed asks patients to propel themselves as fast as they can over 20 meters. This task is performed twice, and the average time is used for the score.

Wheelchair Slalom TestOTHER

In this measure, participants propel themselves through an 18 meter slalom course at their maximum self-selected speed, wheeling around seven cones, separated by three, two, or one meter.

Craig Handicap Assessment and Reporting TechniqueOTHER

A measure of social participation in individuals with SCI.

PART-OOTHER

The PART-O is a community participation measure.

GPS TrackingOTHER

A GPS tracker will be attached to the wheelchairs of a subset of participants for one week. The GPS location is collected every minute, and mapped to Google Maps, which would allow calculation of speed of movement.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion criteria include: * 18 years or older * presence of a physical disability * use of a manual wheelchair for primary mobility * living in the community. Exclusion criteria would include: * individuals who have significant expressive or receptive language deficits (i.e. aphasia, verbal apraxia, etc.) * limb orthopedic conditions that would contraindicate speed and endurance testing, such as recent fractures or joint instability * cardiopulmonary resting heart rate of less than 50 or over 100, resting vitals of systolic blood pressure of \> 200 or \< 90, diastolic blood pressure of \>110, resting O2 levels of less than 90 (ACSM, 205; Fletcher, et al., 1993). * any other cardiac symptoms

Locations (1)

Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute

Golden Valley, Minnesota, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Life Space Assessment Scale Score

This nine question survey asks participants where they have gone in the last week, frequency of those visits, and how independently they went there. The locations vary from spaces within their home, immediately around their home, or outside of their neighborhood, city, county, state or nation. Their independent movement patterns will be classified as within the home, limited community mobility and full community mobility.

Time frame: Day 0

Secondary Outcomes

Distance (meters) covered in six-minute push test

This is a measure of endurance, and requires that the participant wheel themselves around two pylons that are located 15 meters apart for 6 minutes

Time frame: Day 0

Average time to complete forward push test

This measure of wheelchair propulsion speed asks patients to propel themselves as fast as they can over 20 meters. This task is performed twice, and the average time is used for the score

Time frame: Day 0

Time to complete Manual Wheelchair slalom Test

In this measure, participants propel themselves through an 18 meter slalom course at their maximum self-selected speed, wheeling around seven cones, separated by three, two, or one meter

Time frame: Day 0

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

This platform is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional.