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N. Babu Rajendra Kurup, M. Puchinger, M. Gföhler:
"Preliminary analysis of kinematics and muscle activity on a novel handle based wheelchair propulsion mechanism";
Talk: 15th International Symposium on Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering and 3rd Conference on Imaging and Visualization, CMBBE 2018, Lisbon; 2018-03-26 - 2018-03-29; in: "15th International Symposium on Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering", (2018), 1 pages.

Frequent use of push-rim wheelchairs often leads to upper extremity injuries, partly
because in this propulsion technique joint excursion is not within the ergonomic ranges of human
joint motion.
Kurup et al., (2017) investigated on a new propulsion technique for wheelchairs based on
computational optimization of a musculoskeletal model and found a propulsion pattern which
works within the anthropometric joint ranges, consequently reducing the risk of injuries.
The optimized propulsion movement was realized as a propulsion device consisting of a crank
linked to a sliding guide and a handle. This propulsion mechanism with the crank joint as origin
is attached to the lateral side of the wheelchair. During propulsion, the crank changes its effective
length forced by the sliding guide results in the novel propulsion movement for the handle.
In this study, motion capture data and EMG data of the Biceps and Triceps muscle groups were
collected from 3 healthy subjects during wheelchair propulsion with the novel mechanism at an
average power output of 30W. A 7 DOF human musculoskeletal model was then used to perform an
inverse kinematic simulation using the OpenSim software. The kinematic results from the model
show that the joint motions were within the ergonomic ranges for all three subjects. The subjects
showed a semi-circular hand propulsion pattern, which resembles the stroke pattern during pushrim
propulsion [2]. Biceps and triceps muscle groups were found to be active during both pull and
push phases of propulsion.
This preliminary study indicates that the novel propulsion device may help to reduce the occurrence
of injuries when compared to push-rim propulsion [1] and thus improve the quality of life of
wheelchair users.

Rehabilitation, Rollstuhl, wheelchair, Antrieb, propulsion, Wheelchair propulsion, Kinematic analysis, Hand propulsion