Related Experiment Videos
Wheelchair configuration and postural alignment in persons with spinal cord injury
Jennifer D Hastings1, Elaine Rogers Fanucchi, Stephen P Burns
1Spinal Cord Injury Service, Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA, USA. jhastings@ups.edu
Objective:
To determine whether postural alignment and shoulder flexion range differ for persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) seated in wheelchairs with standard configurations versus wheelchairs with posterior seat inclination and a low backrest set perpendicular to the floor.
Design:
Prospective repeated-measures study.
Setting:
Outpatient SCI clinic.
Participants:
Fourteen subjects with C6-T10 motor-complete SCI.
Interventions:
Subjects sat in 3 manual wheelchairs: standard setup E&J Premier (S1), standard setup Quickie Breezy (S2), and test configuration Quickie TNT (T) with posterior seat inclination and a low backrest set perpendicular to the floor.
Main Outcome Measures:
Shoulder and neck alignment and pelvic tilt were determined from sagittal plane digital photographs at rest and with maximal vertical reach.
Results:
At rest, T produced less shoulder protraction than either standard configuration (difference between the mean values, S1: 1.6 cm, P=.048; S2: 1.2 cm, P=.013). S1 and S2 showed a greater head-forward position than T (differences between the mean values, S1: 6.5 degrees, P=.008; S2: 6.3 degrees, P=.013). T allowed greater humeral flexion than S2 (difference between the mean values: 3.7 degrees, P=.036) and greater vertical reach above the seat plane than either conventional configuration (differences between the mean values, S1: 4.7 cm, P=.005; S2: 4.1cm, P=.002). The indirect pelvic tilt measurement showed a trend (P=.06) toward greater posterior pelvic tilt with S1 and S2.
Conclusion:
The alternate configuration produces more vertical postural alignment and greater reach ability versus the standard factory setup wheelchairs.