Selected comparisons between experienced and non-experienced individuals during manual wheelchair propulsion

The present study was undertaken to identify potential errors that might arise from combining able-bodied individuals with wheelchair dependent individuals to form larger sample sizes when studying manual wheelchair propulsion. Five able-bodied and five wheelchair dependent individuals, ranging in age from 24 to 36, propelled a wheelchair on a dynamometer at three different velocities. Of the nine variables (at three different velocities) investigated, significant differences (p < 0.05) were obtained for three physiological characteristics: propulsion efficiency, peak oxygen consumption, and energy input all at high velocity, and for four technique characteristics: at low velocity (propulsion time), and at high velocity (propulsion time, push angle, work per stroke). The results suggest that able-bodied individuals should not be used to increase the size of subject pools when doing studies which include these variables.