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Updated: Apr 9, 2026
Determining and Controlling External Power Output During Regular Handrim Wheelchair Propulsion
Published on: February 5, 2020
Analysis of the effect of path cross slope on manual wheelchair propulsion
Claire L Flemmer1, Rory C Flemmer2
1School of Built Environment, Massey University, New Zealand.
Purpose:
Asymmetrical arm use is needed to propel a manual wheelchair on a straight trajectory when the path has cross slope. Beyond being tiring and inefficient, little is known about the implications of cross slope.
Method:
Simple mechanics is used to analyse the forces acting on the front casters of a wheelchair on a compound slope. This is used to determine how varying cross slope affects the user's propulsion.
Results:
Analysis shows that the effect of cross slope on compound slopes is relatively small, slightly decreasing the equivalent running slope that can be achieved for the same user effort. The greater the cross slope, the greater the effect. Shifting user weight towards the rear wheels minimises the cross slope impact. Cross slope has a significant effect on paths with small running slope. For specific wheelchair-user conditions, the critical cross slope at zero running slope for which the wheelchair user must propel using only the downslope pushrim was estimated to be 3%. Further increase in cross slope necessitates braking on the upslope pushrim and imposes large propulsion effort on the downslope pushrim, which is fatiguing over long distances.
Conclusion:
This work contributes insights into cross slope and a simple method for quantifying the magnitude of its effect on wheelchair users. Better regulation of cross slope would improve the accessibility of outdoor paths for manual wheelchairs users.
