Article

The purpose of this investigation was to compare overground and
treadmill propulsion patterns in persons with tetraplegia. METHODS: In this case
series study, we recruited eight adult subjects with tetraplegia (5 men and 3 women, aged 32.5 +/- 9.5). All subjects used manual wheelchairs. We used a video
motion capture system to record movements as the subject manually wheeled
overground and on a treadmill. We classified propulsion patterns into one of four
patterns and measured five different geometric variables of each pattern. We compared them statistically using ANOVA. RESULTS: There were significant
differences in max height/max length x 100 (H/L%) between propulsion over ground
(mean 20% +/- 15.3/Lhand, mean 21.3% +/- 16.5/Rhand) versus propulsion on
treadmill surfaces (roller: mean 30.9% +/- 11.2/Lhand, mean 33.5% +/- 12.8/Rhand;
belted: mean 27.7% +/- 8.7/Lhand, mean 34.9% +/- 14.2/Rhand) and between the left
and right hand. CONCLUSION: Results indicated area and H/L% were different among
the three surface types and between right and left sides. Caution must be used in
extrapolating treadmill results to propulsion over ground or in assuming bilateral symmetry.

Langue : ANGLAIS