Distance traveled by people using Permobil power wheelchairs based on large data analytics

Data logging technologies have been implemented in manual and power wheelchairs (PWCs) to measure device performance and user behaviors. Previous studies have investigated mean daily distance traveled in both types of wheelchairs, however, with small sample sizes and limited time frames. Permobil instrumented its PWCs with connectivity to continuously collect usage data. The purpose of this study was to analyze this dataset to calculate the mean daily distance traveled over the entire year of 2022 across a large sample of Permobil PWC users within the United States, compare the mean daily distance traveled and the number of use days among five wheelchair models, and to compare the mean daily distance traveled and the number of use days between PWC classifications (Group 3 and Group 4 PWCs). The study sample consisted of 3,058 Permobil PWCs across 5 models. Further reduced dataset for Group 3 and Group 4 devices comprised 2,615 wheelchairs. The results showed PWC users drove on average 1,365 m per day. Group 4 PWCs had a significantly higher mean daily distance traveled than Group 3 PWCs. PWCs were used on average 301 days in a year. Study results could inform scheduled maintenance, repairs, and replacements based on usage versus current indicator of device age.