The Issue of Individual Adjustment of Active Manual Wheelchairs to People with Disabilities

摘要

The growing number of people with disabilities in Poland forces researchers to take a completely different approach to the issue of individual adjustment of active manual wheelchairs. A properly adjusted wheelchair, and especially an active wheelchair, is the basic equipment of a disabled person. The issues of scientific research focuses mainly on the study of upper extremities demands, then the construction and simulation of kinematic models. The results are the basis for determining guidelines to minimize injuries caused by excessive demands of upper extremities, and to develop optimal ranges of limb movements. The review and analysis of the literature have shown a number of important issues that have not found their place in the field of research on the broadly understood problem of the disability-wheelchair system. It is necessary to increase the amount of research in a given field. This conclusion became the premise for defining the purpose of future research, i.e. developing a methodology for individual adjustment of active manual wheelchairs to the possibilities, limitations and expectations of potential users based on the principles of user-centered design. The implementation of the objective provides for the use of modern measurement techniques, including electromyography (EMG) or wireless analysis of 3D motion kinematics using inertial sensors.