The Influence of Seat Height on Hemiplegic-pattern Propulsion of Manual Wheelchairs

Many people who have suffered a stroke require a wheelchair for mobility. Hemiplegia is a common result of stroke.Many people with hemiplegia propel themselves using their sound-side arms and legs ("hemiplegic-pattern propulsion") in manual wheelchairs.Often people using this pattern are prescribed wheelchairs with a reduced seat height to facilitate foot propulsion. Despite the seeming obviousness of the need to lower the seat height for people who use foot propulsion,there is little available evidence to help establish optimal wheelchair seat height. The study objective is to test the hypothesis that there is an optimum wheelchair seat height (expressed as a percentage of the lower leg length) for hemiplegic-pattern wheelchair propulsion. The investigators expect that the optimum seat height will be lower than that usually used for wheelchairs that are hand-propelled.

A single-subject design with able-bodied participants will be used to investigate 5 randomized seat heights. The 5 seat heights will be set relative to the subjects leg length at a single 60 minute data collection session All measures will be obtained during one session. The optimal seat height will be chosen based on wheelchair propulsion speed, push frequency and effectiveness over 10m going forward on smooth surface, and 5m going backwards over a soft surface.