Wheelchair users are particularly at risk from whole-body vibration (WBV) related complaints due to their reduced muscle activity, relaxed posture and musculoskeletal weakness caused through long periods of sitting. Legislation is proposed to reduce levels of WBV exposure in the workplace by incorporating vibration minimising systems into the design of workstations. If vibration levels experienced by powered wheelchair users exceed stated limits it could be argued that similar legislation would require vibration damping (suspension) systems to be incorporated into wheelchair designs. Vibration levels were assessed on four powered wheelchairs without suspension systems by recording vertical and horizontal accelerations on the operators seat base over two test surfaces. All the wheelchairs on the rough track above 0.5ms-1 forward speed showed RMS acceleration values in both axes in excess of the proposed European Union PAVD (Physical Agents (Vibration) Directive (2000)) 'daily exposure action value' of 0.6ms~(-2).
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