Trunk and neck kinematics during overground manual wheelchair propulsion in persons with tetraplegia.

AbstractPurpose: To test the hypothesis that movement of the head and trunk increases as a consequence of speed during manual wheelchair propulsion over the ground in individuals with tetraplegia. Methods: Seven adult participants with tetraplegia who used manual wheelchairs (5 men and 2 women, aged 33.0 ± 10.2) were selected for the study. Participants propelled over the ground at three different speeds while video motion capture methods collected kinematic data. Variables investigated were forward flexion, lateral flexion and axial rotation for both the head and trunk. Repeated measures ANOVA were used to determine effects of speed on head and trunk movements. Results: Both neck and trunk forward flexion significantly increased as a result of speed (p = 0.034, p = 0.031), with a large effect size (r = 0.6, r = 0.6) between slow and fast speeds. Lateral flexion and axial rotation were minimal for the neck and trunk and did not significantly increase with speed. Conclusions: Results suggest that manual wh...