Effect of Travel Direction, Body Position and Technique on the Ease of Getting an Occupied Wheelchair Over a Soft Surface

Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Wheelchairs

Treatments: Other: Wheelie technique; Other: Wheelchair occupant upright body position; Other: Upright technique; Other: Wheelchair forward direction; Other: Wheelchair backward direction

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04998539

WSP-2021PP

1027105 (Other Identifier)

Details and patient eligibility

About

Wheelchair skills training is an important step in the wheelchair provision process. Caregivers play an important role in the lives of wheelchair users but very little is known about wheelchair skills training for caregivers. The goal of the study is to understand the effect of wheelchair travel direction, wheelchair occupant body position and technique used by caregivers on the ease of getting an occupied wheelchair over a soft surface.

Full description

Able bodied participants will be used to simulate caregivers and wheelchair occupants. Participants simulating caregivers will be asked to move the occupied wheelchair over a 5 m soft surface. Participants will be randomly assigned a direction to move the wheelchair (forward or backwards), wheelchair occupant body position (upright or leaning forward) and technique in moving the wheelchair (upright with all 4 wheels on ground or in a wheelie position with the wheelchair tipped backwards and balanced on the rear wheels). The ease of getting the occupied wheelchair over the soft surface will be evaluated by the amount of time taken to complete the task, how well the participant completed the task and the ease of performing the task as evaluated by the participant.

Enrollment: 32 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• able to communicate in English,
• alert, cooperative, and competent to provide informed consent,
• willing to participate (as evidenced by attending the single data-collection session), and
• have no physical impairments that would prevent their being able to push and pull a wheelchair over a soft surface

Exclusion criteria

• have unstable medical conditions that might make the handling of a manual wheelchair dangerous, or emotional problems that might make participation unsafe or unpleasant.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Crossover Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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32 participants in 4 patient groups

Upright wheelchair forward and occupant upright

Experimental group

Description:

Participant will push an upright wheelchair forward over a 5 m soft surface with the wheelchair occupant in the upright body position. The participant will perform the task once.

Treatment:

Other: Wheelchair forward direction

Other: Wheelchair occupant upright body position

Other: Upright technique

Upright wheelchair backward and occupant upright

Experimental group

Description:

Participant will pull an upright wheelchair backwards over a 5 m soft surface with the wheelchair occupant in the upright body position. The participant will perform the task once.

Treatment:

Other: Wheelchair occupant upright body position

Other: Upright technique

Other: Wheelchair backward direction

Wheelie wheelchair forward and occupant upright

Experimental group

Description:

Participant will push a wheelchair using the wheelie technique forward over a 5 m soft surface with the wheelchair occupant in the upright body position.The participant will perform the task once.

Treatment:

Other: Wheelchair forward direction

Other: Wheelchair occupant upright body position

Other: Wheelie technique

Wheelie wheelchair backward and occupant upright

Experimental group

Description:

Participant will pull a wheelchair using the wheelie technique backwards over a 5 m soft surface with the wheelchair occupant in the upright body position.The participant will perform the task once.

Treatment:

Other: Wheelchair occupant upright body position

Other: Wheelie technique

Other: Wheelchair backward direction