Variability of peak shoulder force during wheelchair propulsion as a function of shoulder pain

Manual wheelchair users report a high prevalence of shoulder pain. Growing evidence shows that variability in forces applied to biological tissue is related to musculoskeletal pain. The purpose of this study was to examine the variability of forces acting on the shoulder during wheelchair propulsion as a function of shoulder pain. Twenty-nine manual wheelchair users (13 with pain, 16 without pain) participated in the investigation. Kinetic and kinematic data of wheelchair propulsion were recorded for three minutes maintaining a constant speed at three distinct propulsion speeds (fast speed of 1.1m/s, a self-selected speed, and a slow speed of 0.7m/s). Peak resultant shoulder forces in push phase were calculated using inverse dynamics. There was no difference in mean shoulder resultant force between groups. The pain group had significantly smaller variability of peak resultant force than the no pain group (p < 0.01). This highlights that manipulations of propulsion variability could potentially be a novel prevention strategy for upper limb pain in manual wheelchair users.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Kinesiology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Moon, Yaejin

Contributors dc:contributor

• Sosnoff, Jacob J.

• variability
• motor variability
• wheelchair
• wheelchair propulsion
• shoulder pain
• shoulder injury

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2013 Yaejin Moon

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/44139

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/44139