Motions of Propelling a Wheelchair Based on the Movement Function of People with Spinal Cord Injury

摘要

Some persons with spinal injuries use manual or electric wheelchairs to allow them to move independently. Their body shape and body function tends to be changed due to their disability. The purpose of this study was to assist in the development of functional and fashionable clothes that can encourage social participation of persons with disabilities. Here, we evaluated the comfort level of such clothes when using wheelchair by using a dummy robot. First, the motion of propelling a wheelchair and the body function, such as range of motion and manual muscle test, of persons with spinal cord injuries were evaluated, and the motion patterns were classified. Next, the average motion patterns were generated for a dummy robot based on the measurement results. While the dummy robot performed the motions of propelling a wheelchair, the forces acting on the arm were measured and used to evaluate the potential comfort of the functional clothing.