Wearable Sensors for Cardiovascular Assessment of Manual Wheelchair Users

The cardiovascular health of manual wheelchair users impacts their quality of life and function. A commonly used method to assess cardiovascular fitness and functional independence of manual wheelchair users is the 6-Minute Push Test. While it is a simple, no-cost, easy-to-implement test, it provides minimal data and can be subject to errors in counting laps, measuring distance, and reporting data. This study introduces the utilization of inertial measurement units and a wristwatch heart rate monitor to address those errors and gather more comprehensive physiological and movement data from the 6-Minute Push Test. Five manual wheelchair users performed the test while wearing a wristwatch and one inertial sensor on their dominant wrist while another sensor was mounted on their wheelchair. Observer-obtained distance was reported, and distance traveled, speed, propulsion cycles, and heart rate were calculated from the recorded sensor data. The results demonstrate that observer error is common and inertial data is more reliable in providing objective data for distance traveled. Furthermore, using inertial measurement units and heart rate monitors can improve the quantification of the cardiovascular fitness assessment and provide valuable insights for clinicians to help them with health evaluations, personalized interventions, and rehabilitation programs for wheelchair users. Future testing is needed on a larger population to explore the robustness of the method. Moreover, future integration with a phone application could allow for the method to be more accessible to everyone.