APPLICATION OF A COMMERCIAL DATALOGGER TO ELECTRIC POWERED AND MANUAL WHEELCHAIRS OF CHILDREN
Beth Ann Kaminski, BSE
University of Pittsburgh, 2004
Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the usage characteristics of children wheelchair users. This was accomplished by utilizing dataloggers to quantify how far and how fast children drive or propel their wheelchairs, as well as observing the movement time data. The relationships between usage per type of wheelchair, gender, and day of the week were evaluated.
Methods: 20 subjects between the ages of 6-17 years old who use a manual (n=10) or power (n=10) wheelchair for their primary source of community-based mobility were studied. The children in this study reported the disabilities of cerebral palsy (n=6), spina bifida (n=11), Duchenne muscular dystrophy (n=2), and spinal cord injury (n=1). Overall, nine females and 11 males participated in the study. All subjects, or their parents, provided demographic information and characteristics of their wheelchair. Each child¡¦s wheelchair was then instrumented with a datalogger. The datalogger was attached to wheelchair for five to seven days. During this time, the participants were instructed to go about their daily activities as usual.
Results: On an average day, the manual wheelchair users traveled 1583.6 b 880.2 meters at an average speed of 0.67 b 0.16 meters/sec, while the power wheelchair users traveled 1524.5 b 1057.0 meters at 0.63 b 0.16 meters/sec. Overall, the children traveled average daily distances in the range of 8.5 meters to 3929.1 meters and at speeds between 0.39 to 1.42 meters/sec. The males in the study, on average, traveled 1910.1 b 1160.0 meters per day at 0.66 b 0.14 meters/sec while the females traveled 1118.9 b 247.9 meters at 0.60 b 0.19 meters/sec. The children were active for an average of 15 hours per day on the weekdays and 12.5 hours on the weekend days. The children traveled an average of 1738.7 b 1173.5 meters per day at 0.63 b 0.14 meters/sec on the weekdays and 1088.9 b 902.8 meters per day on the weekends. Data from nine manual wheelchair shows the subjects drove in the forward direction 93.2% of the time and backwards 6.8% of the time.
Conclusions: No differences were found between the distance and speeds traveled for children manual and power wheelchair users. In comparison, the children wheelchair users show similar driving characteristics in speed and distance traveled to adult wheelchair users. The findings suggest that the male children traveled longer distances per day (P = 0.046) and at higher speeds. The children appear to be more active on weekdays as compared to the weekends. The weekday distance is significantly higher than weekend distance (P = 0.035).
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-11292004-115314 |
| Date | 14 December 2004 |
| Creators | Kaminski, Beth Ann |
| Contributors | Rory Cooper, Dan Ding, Rosemarie Cooper |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-11292004-115314/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
Page generated in 0.0015 seconds