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

NCT ID: NCT03330912

Last Updated: 2020-09-11

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 50 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2018-05-01
• Study Completion Date: 2019-09-01

Brief 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.

Detailed 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.

Conditions

Wheelchairs; Hemiplegia

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Seat Height Intervention

Randomly assigned 5 wheelchair seat heights ranging from very low (2" below) to very high (2" above) the lower leg length of the participant.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Neutral seat height

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Seat height set relative to participant's leg length with neutral set at the measured lower leg length

Very low seat height

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Seat height set relative to participant's leg length, 2" below the measured lower leg length

Low seat height

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Seat height set relative to participant's leg length, 1" below the measured lower leg length

Very high seat height

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Seat height set relative to participant's leg length, 2" above the measured lower leg length

High seat height

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Seat height set relative to participant's leg length, 1" above the measured lower leg length

Interventions

Neutral seat height

Seat height set relative to participant's leg length with neutral set at the measured lower leg length

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Very low seat height

Seat height set relative to participant's leg length, 2" below the measured lower leg length

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Low seat height

Seat height set relative to participant's leg length, 1" below the measured lower leg length

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Very high seat height

Seat height set relative to participant's leg length, 2" above the measured lower leg length

Intervention Type: DEVICE

High seat height

Seat height set relative to participant's leg length, 1" above the measured lower leg length

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Eligibility Criteria

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

-

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Lee Kirby

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Lee Kirby

Staff Physician, Rehabilitation Medicine

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Lee Kirby, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Nova Scotia Health Authority, Dalhousie University

Locations

Nova Scotia Rehabilitation and Arthritis Centre

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Countries

Canada

References

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. 2021 Nov;16(8):831-839. doi: 10.1080/17483107.2020.1741036. Epub 2020 Apr 2.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 32238086 (View on PubMed)

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. 2022 Apr;17(3):325-330. doi: 10.1080/17483107.2020.1782490. Epub 2020 Jun 27.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 32594783 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

1022716

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id