Engineering Better Wheelchairs to Enhance Community Participation

Author

Cooper, Rory A. ; Boninger, Michael L. ; Spaeth, Donald M. ; Ding, Dan ; Guo, Songfeng ; Koontz, Alicia M. ; Fitzgerald, Shirley G. ; Cooper, Rosemarie ; Kelleher, Annmarie ; Collins, Diane M.

Author_Institution

Pittsburgh Univ., PA

Volume

14

Issue

4

fYear

2006

Firstpage

438

Lastpage

455

Abstract

With about 2.2 million Americans currently using wheeled mobility devices, wheelchairs are frequently provided to people with impaired mobility to provide accessibility to the community. Individuals with spinal cord injuries, arthritis, balance disorders, and other conditions or diseases are typical users of wheelchairs. However, secondary injuries and wheelchair-related accidents are risks introduced by wheelchairs. Research is underway to advance wheelchair design to prevent or accommodate secondary injuries related to propulsion and transfer biomechanics, while improving safe, functional performance and accessibility to the community. This paper summarizes research and development underway aimed at enhancing safety and optimizing wheelchair design

Keywords

biomechanics; handicapped aids; patient rehabilitation; community participation; impaired mobility; propulsion; secondary injuries; transfer biomechanics; wheelchairs; Accidents; Arthritis; Biomechanics; Design optimization; Diseases; Propulsion; Research and development; Safety; Spinal cord injury; Wheelchairs; Biomechanics; controls; human–machine interfaces; rehabilitation engineering; wheelchair; Activities of Daily Living; Biomechanics; Biomedical Engineering; Equipment Design; Equipment Failure Analysis; Human Engineering; Humans; Man-Machine Systems; Wheelchairs;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1534-4320

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TNSRE.2006.888382

Filename

4032743