Mukherjee Goutam, Bhowmik Partha, Samanta Amalendu
Department of Occupational Health, All India Institute of Hygiene & Public Health, Kolkata, India.
Indian J Med Res. 2005 Jun;121(6):747-58.
BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: The use of wheelchairs (WC) of ergonomically different propulsion mechanisms may influence the cardiorespiratory capacity of the WC user. The purpose of the present investigation was to observe the impact of chronic use of four ergonomically different propulsion systems and age of the WC users on their aerobic capacity.
The male subjects (n=77), exclusively using hand rim (n=20), arm crank using both arms (n=22), arm crank using one arm (n=17), and arm lever using one arm (n=18) propelled WCs and 20 able-bodied (AB) subjects as the control group participated They performed maximal exercise test in continuous, step-wise incremental workload at a crank rate of 50 rpm on an arm-crank ergometer. The VO(2) and heart rate obtained during 2.45 to 3 min of each test exercise, and VO(2max) and HR(max) were derived respectively. Two-way ANOVA and multiple comparison tests were performed to compare the groups with respect to VO(2max) and HR(max). Age was used as a classificatory variable.
The maximal physiological response of the AB subjects was superior to the WC users but the WC user groups did not show any significant differences amongst them. The aerobic capacity decreased with advancement of age and for WC users this is more pronounced. Equations for age predicted VO(2max) and HR(max) were also derived.
INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: As the WC users used the four distinct propulsion systems, it was anticipated that it would induce variation in the physiological variables of the users. But the results of the study revealed that there was no significant difference. Suggesting that the WC users might have developed certain self-regulatory mechanisms in order to overcome the variation induced by the different propulsion systems.
使用人体工程学设计不同推进机制的轮椅可能会影响轮椅使用者的心肺功能。本研究的目的是观察长期使用四种人体工程学设计不同的推进系统以及轮椅使用者的年龄对其有氧能力的影响。
男性受试者（n = 77），分别为仅使用手轮圈推进轮椅的（n = 20）、双臂使用曲柄推进轮椅的（n = 22）、单臂使用曲柄推进轮椅的（n = 17）以及单臂使用杠杆推进轮椅的（n = 18），还有20名健全受试者作为对照组参与研究。他们在手臂曲柄测力计上以50转/分钟的曲柄速率进行连续、逐步递增负荷的最大运动测试。分别获取每次测试运动2.45至3分钟期间的VO₂和心率，并得出VO₂max和HRmax。进行双向方差分析和多重比较测试，以比较各组在VO₂max和HRmax方面的差异。年龄用作分类变量。
健全受试者的最大生理反应优于轮椅使用者，但轮椅使用者组之间未显示出任何显著差异。有氧能力随着年龄增长而下降，对于轮椅使用者来说这种下降更为明显。还得出了年龄预测VO₂max和HRmax的方程。
由于轮椅使用者使用了四种不同的推进系统，预计这会导致使用者生理变量的变化。但研究结果表明没有显著差异。这表明轮椅使用者可能已经形成了某些自我调节机制，以克服不同推进系统引起的变化。
