Article

OBJECTIVE: To verify whether additional manual wheelchair mass above a critical
level would produce, during many daily tasks, an increase in physiologic
parameters, an increase in the perceived exertion, and a decrease in performance.
DESIGN: A repeated-measurement design. SETTING: Six standardized tests thought to
mimic daily activities. PARTICIPANTS: Volunteers (N=21), 8 men with spinal cord
injuries (SCIs; mean age, 34+/-12y; range, 19-56y) and 13 able-bodied persons (11
men and 2 women; mean,
24+/-5y; range, 18-37y). INTERVENTIONS: Random additional
masses ("0", 1, 2, 5kg) were placed under the seat of a multisport manual
wheelchair (mass approximately 10kg) out of the subject's field of vision. MAIN
OUTCOME MEASURES: Energy expenditure (EE; total o(2) consumed), heart rate (total
number of beats), perceived exertion (visual analog scale), and performance
(seconds to execute a sprint test) were measured. RESULTS: For all tests, there
was no significant effect of mass found for either group for the EE, heart rate,
and performance. In addition, for all tests, no significant effect of mass was
found for the SCI group for the visual analog perceived exertion. However, for
the able-bodied group, the added mass had a significant effect for the visual
analog perceived exertion (F=6.11; P=.02) in the Stop-and-Go test. A post hoc
Tukey test showed a significant difference between the 0kg and 5kg mass
conditions (P<.01; d=.8), between 1kg and 5kg (P=.02; d=.6), and between 2kg and
5kg (P=.01; d=.6). CONCLUSIONS: Based on these findings, it can be concluded
that, under the conditions of this study, additional mass (up to 5kg) loaded on a
multisport manual wheelchair does not seem have any effect on EE, heart rate, or
performance and has a minor effect on the visual analog perceived exertion
evaluated in many activities of daily living.

Langue : ANGLAIS