Figure:-1.2 wheelchairs used in sports variant.
• Transfer, Stretcher and Variant
Stretcher (or transfer) chairs are mobile chairs that can be adjusted to lie flat like stretcher to help in the lateral (or spine) transfer of patient from a bed to the chair. Once transferred, the stretcher can be adjusted to allow the patient to assume a sitting position. Transfer chair often used sliding sheets or inflatable sliding mats with air bearings to facilitate the movement of the patient from the bed to the chair. The patient in the bed is rolled onto the transfer sheet or mat, and the sheet slides between the bed and the chair (configured as a flat stretcher), carrying the patient with the ease.
This process requires a lot more time for transferring …show more content…
Autonomy in the area of mobility has always been highly valued, but it sometimes impaired by some form of disability. In many cases this results in reliance on some form of external transport mechanism. In this regard traditional wheelchairs and powered wheelchairs continue to play a vital role. However wheelchairs to date provide a high level of mobility only in artificial or “barrier free” environment. There remains a significant gap between the obstacle negotiating ability of a wheelchair and that of the average able bodied person. This aspect is perhaps most apparent when considering ramp climbing. While the modern architecture and new policies continue to make newly built areas as “accessible” as possible to person with wide variety of disabilities steps will always be a reality in the “real world”. The commercially available wheel chair for amputees doesn’t have the functionality for climbing ramp cases. In our project we have designed a manually operated wheelchair that can travel in both plane terrains or we can say on the ramp and also in the ramp cases. Instead of using normal wheels, in our projects we have used four supportive wheels. The aluminum, chassis is like a box shaped and four wheels are mounted on it at each opposite side by brackets. At the time of climbing, two wheels will be in contact with the ground and another two wheels …show more content…
It is important to understand the possibilities and needs of the user to adequately design and fit the correct wheelchair. Physical characteristics such as upper-extremity muscle force and peak power output have been shown to closely relate with wheelchair skill performance (Kilkens and others 2005a). The physical capacity varies widely between users and these inter-individual differences impact the design of a wheelchair. Knowledge of the peak power output of a person can give a good indication of how intensive it is for him/her to propel a wheelchair. A recent study of Haisma et al. (Haisma and others 2006) reports on the large differences in peak power output, measured in a wheelchair, of persons with tetraplegia (mean: 26 W) and paraplegia (mean: 74 W) during inpatient rehabilitation. If we combine this knowledge with research of Van der Woude et al. (van der woude and others 1999) on wheelchair rolling resistance of different floor surfaces we can get some insight into the clinical impact of these values. For instance vinyl as found in a gym of a rehabilitation center had a rolling resistance for a certain wheelchair of ca. 20 N. At a speed of 4 km/h this takes a power output of 22 W, which is 85% of the peak power output for the person with tetraplegia, while only 30% for persons with paraplegia. This example stresses the need for a different view on design for
• Transfer, Stretcher and Variant
Stretcher (or transfer) chairs are mobile chairs that can be adjusted to lie flat like stretcher to help in the lateral (or spine) transfer of patient from a bed to the chair. Once transferred, the stretcher can be adjusted to allow the patient to assume a sitting position. Transfer chair often used sliding sheets or inflatable sliding mats with air bearings to facilitate the movement of the patient from the bed to the chair. The patient in the bed is rolled onto the transfer sheet or mat, and the sheet slides between the bed and the chair (configured as a flat stretcher), carrying the patient with the ease.
This process requires a lot more time for transferring …show more content…
Autonomy in the area of mobility has always been highly valued, but it sometimes impaired by some form of disability. In many cases this results in reliance on some form of external transport mechanism. In this regard traditional wheelchairs and powered wheelchairs continue to play a vital role. However wheelchairs to date provide a high level of mobility only in artificial or “barrier free” environment. There remains a significant gap between the obstacle negotiating ability of a wheelchair and that of the average able bodied person. This aspect is perhaps most apparent when considering ramp climbing. While the modern architecture and new policies continue to make newly built areas as “accessible” as possible to person with wide variety of disabilities steps will always be a reality in the “real world”. The commercially available wheel chair for amputees doesn’t have the functionality for climbing ramp cases. In our project we have designed a manually operated wheelchair that can travel in both plane terrains or we can say on the ramp and also in the ramp cases. Instead of using normal wheels, in our projects we have used four supportive wheels. The aluminum, chassis is like a box shaped and four wheels are mounted on it at each opposite side by brackets. At the time of climbing, two wheels will be in contact with the ground and another two wheels …show more content…
It is important to understand the possibilities and needs of the user to adequately design and fit the correct wheelchair. Physical characteristics such as upper-extremity muscle force and peak power output have been shown to closely relate with wheelchair skill performance (Kilkens and others 2005a). The physical capacity varies widely between users and these inter-individual differences impact the design of a wheelchair. Knowledge of the peak power output of a person can give a good indication of how intensive it is for him/her to propel a wheelchair. A recent study of Haisma et al. (Haisma and others 2006) reports on the large differences in peak power output, measured in a wheelchair, of persons with tetraplegia (mean: 26 W) and paraplegia (mean: 74 W) during inpatient rehabilitation. If we combine this knowledge with research of Van der Woude et al. (van der woude and others 1999) on wheelchair rolling resistance of different floor surfaces we can get some insight into the clinical impact of these values. For instance vinyl as found in a gym of a rehabilitation center had a rolling resistance for a certain wheelchair of ca. 20 N. At a speed of 4 km/h this takes a power output of 22 W, which is 85% of the peak power output for the person with tetraplegia, while only 30% for persons with paraplegia. This example stresses the need for a different view on design for