The Influence of Seat Height on Hemiplegic-pattern Propulsion of Manual Wheelchairs

Hemiplegia Clinical Trial

Official title:

The Influence of Seat Height on Hemiplegic-pattern Propulsion of Manual Wheelchairs

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03330912
• Other study ID #: 1022716
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: May 1, 2018
• Est. completion date: September 1, 2019

Study information

• Verified date: September 2020
• Source: Nova Scotia Health Authority
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This study evaluates the effect of seat height on hemiplegic-pattern wheelchair propulsion. Each subject will act as their own control and measures will be obtained in a one sixty minute session. Five seat heights relative to the subject's leg length will be measured in a random order to see the effect on forward and backwards wheelchair propulsion.

Description:

Many people who have suffered a stroke require a wheelchair for mobility. Hemiplegia is a common result of stroke.Many people with hemiplegia propel themselves using their sound-side arms and legs ("hemiplegic-pattern propulsion") in manual wheelchairs.Often people using this pattern are prescribed wheelchairs with a reduced seat height to facilitate foot propulsion. Despite the seeming obviousness of the need to lower the seat height for people who use foot propulsion,there is little available evidence to help establish optimal wheelchair seat height. The study objective is to test the hypothesis that there is an optimum wheelchair seat height (expressed as a percentage of the lower leg length) for hemiplegic-pattern wheelchair propulsion. The investigators expect that the optimum seat height will be lower than that usually used for wheelchairs that are hand-propelled.

A single-subject design with able-bodied participants will be used to investigate 5 randomized seat heights. The 5 seat heights will be set relative to the subjects leg length at a single 60 minute data collection session All measures will be obtained during one session. The optimal seat height will be chosen based on wheelchair propulsion speed, push frequency and effectiveness over 10m going forward on smooth surface, and 5m going backwards over a soft surface.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 50
• Est. completion date: September 1, 2019
• Est. primary completion date: September 1, 2019
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• willing to participate

• is right-hand dominant (to simplify wheelchair and laboratory set-up)

• has a subjective unshod height of = 183 cm (6'0")

• is able to be comfortably seated in the manual wheelchair used for the study

• is 18 years of age or older, is alert and cooperative

• is competent to provide informed consent

• is able to communicate in English

• does not have an unstable medical condition

Exclusion Criteria:

-

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Hemiplegia
• Wheelchairs

Intervention

Device:
• Neutral seat height
Seat height set relative to participant's leg length with neutral set at the measured lower leg length
• Very low seat height
Seat height set relative to participant's leg length, 2" below the measured lower leg length
• Low seat height
Seat height set relative to participant's leg length, 1" below the measured lower leg length
• Very high seat height
Seat height set relative to participant's leg length, 2" above the measured lower leg length
• High seat height
Seat height set relative to participant's leg length, 1" above the measured lower leg length

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Canada	Nova Scotia Rehabilitation and Arthritis Centre	Halifax	Nova Scotia

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Lee Kirby

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Canada, 

References & Publications (2)

Heinrichs ND, Kirby RL, Smith C, Russell KFJ, Theriault CJ, Doucette SP. Effect of seat height on manual wheelchair foot propulsion, a repeated-measures crossover study: part 1 - wheeling forward on a smooth level surface. Disabil Rehabil Assist Technol. 2020 Apr 2:1-9. doi: 10.1080/17483107.2020.1741036. [Epub ahead of print] — View Citation

Heinrichs ND, Kirby RL, Smith C, Russell KFJ, Theriault CJ, Doucette SP. Effect of seat height on manual wheelchair foot propulsion, a repeated-measures crossover study: part 2 - wheeling backward on a soft surface. Disabil Rehabil Assist Technol. 2020 Jun 27:1-6. doi: 10.1080/17483107.2020.1782490. [Epub ahead of print] — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	speed (m/s)	wheelchair propulsion speed over 10 m forward and 5 m backward	same day measure obtained immediately after seat adjustment, approximately 10 minutes
Primary	push frequency (cycles per second)	number of foot cycles completed over the 10 m forward and 5 m backward	same day measure obtained immediately after seat adjustment, approximately 10 minutes
Primary	Propulsion effectiveness	distance travelled per foot propulsion cycle	same day measure obtained immediately after seat adjustment, approximately 10 minutes
Secondary	forward propulsion wheelchair skills test score	fail, pass with difficulty or pass for wheeling forward 10 m	same day measure obtained immediately after seat adjustment, approximately 10 minutes
Secondary	propulsion difficulty questionnaire	Investigator developed questionnaire asking how difficult it was to perform the propulsion test. The participant will self-report his/her level of difficulty for this skill using a five-point Likert scale (1 =very easy, 2=somewhat easy, 3=neither easy nor difficult, 4= somewhat difficult and 5=very difficult). A single number will be reported.	same day measure obtained immediately after seat adjustment, approximately 10 minutes