An exercise test to evaluate fitness for wheelchair activity

The purpose of this study was to develop a wheelchair ergometer (WERG) test to evaluate fitness for manual wheelchair activity. Thirty able-bodied females participated in a progressive intensity, discontinuous test where exercise bouts were 4 min in duration interspersed with 5-min rest periods. Physiological responses of oxygen uptake (VO2), respiratory exchange ratio (R), net mechanical efficiency (ME), pulmonary ventilation (VO) and heart rate (HR) were determined during the final minute of exercise at power output (PO) levels of 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 kpm/min. These responses were generally found to be linearly related to PO, however, net ME initially increased with PO and plateaued at approximately 11 per cent at 90 kpm/min. Criteria for fitness evaluation were based upon: (1) magnitude of physiological responses at each PO level; and (2) the maximal PO level completed.