Tuesday September 25 1:10 PM ET
Leg-Propelled Wheelchair Deemed Easy to Handle
By Melissa Schorr
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new style of wheelchair that users propel with their legs rather than their arms was easier for many patients to use and may provide added health benefits, a team of Canadian researchers reports.
``Using this new wheelchair, people can go faster with less effort,'' Dr. Richard B. Stein, professor of physiology and neuroscience at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, told Reuters Health. ``By using the larger leg muscles, this uses about half the amount of effort it takes with your arms.''
Traditional mechanical wheelchairs, which are used by people with limited or no use of their legs, are propelled forward by the arms, and can eventually strain the arm and shoulder muscles while allowing leg muscles to wear down, Stein said.
The leg-powered wheelchair allows patients who have some use of the legs to use their leg muscles to propel the chair forward. In addition, the wheelchair can be used by those with severe spinal cord injuries who have no independent control of their legs, using functional electric stimulation (FES), a system that stimulates leg muscles to automatically contract.
``The disabled need to exercise their legs to keep them in good shape,'' Stein explained. ``Few do, and adding an exercise burden is not practical. Our goal has been to make it part of their daily life so they get benefits naturally.''
The concept of a leg-powered chair was originally developed and patented by other researchers. Stein and a collaborator are now hoping to improve upon that original design and eventually get a working product to market.
The researchers tested the leg-propelled wheelchair on three groups: 13 students with no known disabilities; 9 people with spinal cord injuries who used FES to enable their leg muscles to work; and 13 people with disabilities such as stroke, spina bifida and balance problems, who used a wheelchair but still had some control over their leg movements.
The researchers measured how much the participants' heart rates and oxygen consumption went up in relation to the distance they traveled in the new wheelchairs, traditional wheelchairs and by walking. The results are published in the September issue of the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
The investigators found that for the non-disabled group and the group who used FES, the leg-propelled wheelchair took half as much energy to move as the traditional arm-propelled wheelchair did.
``It turns out to be a remarkably efficient way of getting around,'' Stein noted.
However, those people with weakness or spasticity in their legs did not have an easier time using the leg-propelled chair. ''Not everyone is going to be able to use this,'' Stein said.
But for people with some leg function but no leg-muscle spasticity, the leg-powered chair did prove easier to use.
Stein said he plans to next measure whether the wheelchair improves leg muscle functioning and prevents bone atrophy in the long term.
SOURCE: Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2001;82:1198-
Leg-Propelled Wheelchair Deemed Easy to Handle
By Melissa Schorr
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new style of wheelchair that users propel with their legs rather than their arms was easier for many patients to use and may provide added health benefits, a team of Canadian researchers reports.
``Using this new wheelchair, people can go faster with less effort,'' Dr. Richard B. Stein, professor of physiology and neuroscience at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, told Reuters Health. ``By using the larger leg muscles, this uses about half the amount of effort it takes with your arms.''
Traditional mechanical wheelchairs, which are used by people with limited or no use of their legs, are propelled forward by the arms, and can eventually strain the arm and shoulder muscles while allowing leg muscles to wear down, Stein said.
The leg-powered wheelchair allows patients who have some use of the legs to use their leg muscles to propel the chair forward. In addition, the wheelchair can be used by those with severe spinal cord injuries who have no independent control of their legs, using functional electric stimulation (FES), a system that stimulates leg muscles to automatically contract.
``The disabled need to exercise their legs to keep them in good shape,'' Stein explained. ``Few do, and adding an exercise burden is not practical. Our goal has been to make it part of their daily life so they get benefits naturally.''
The concept of a leg-powered chair was originally developed and patented by other researchers. Stein and a collaborator are now hoping to improve upon that original design and eventually get a working product to market.
The researchers tested the leg-propelled wheelchair on three groups: 13 students with no known disabilities; 9 people with spinal cord injuries who used FES to enable their leg muscles to work; and 13 people with disabilities such as stroke, spina bifida and balance problems, who used a wheelchair but still had some control over their leg movements.
The researchers measured how much the participants' heart rates and oxygen consumption went up in relation to the distance they traveled in the new wheelchairs, traditional wheelchairs and by walking. The results are published in the September issue of the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
The investigators found that for the non-disabled group and the group who used FES, the leg-propelled wheelchair took half as much energy to move as the traditional arm-propelled wheelchair did.
``It turns out to be a remarkably efficient way of getting around,'' Stein noted.
However, those people with weakness or spasticity in their legs did not have an easier time using the leg-propelled chair. ''Not everyone is going to be able to use this,'' Stein said.
But for people with some leg function but no leg-muscle spasticity, the leg-powered chair did prove easier to use.
Stein said he plans to next measure whether the wheelchair improves leg muscle functioning and prevents bone atrophy in the long term.
SOURCE: Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2001;82:1198-
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