Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI 53233, USA.
Sensors (Basel). 2024 Jun 27;24(13):4172. doi: 10.3390/s24134172.
Manual wheelchair users (MWUs) are prone to a sedentary life that can negatively affect their physical and cardiovascular health, making regular assessment important to identify appropriate interventions and lifestyle modifications. One mean of assessing MWUs' physical health is the 6 min push test (6MPT), where the user propels themselves as far as they can in six minutes. However, reliance on observer input introduces subjectivity, while limited quantitative data inhibit comprehensive assessment. Incorporating sensors into the 6MPT can address these limitations. Here, ten MWUs performed the 6MPT with additional sensors: two inertial measurement units (IMUs)-one on the wheelchair and one on the wrist together with a heart rate wristwatch. The conventional measurements of distance and laps were recorded by the observer, and the IMU data were used to calculate laps, distance, speed, and cadence. The results demonstrated that the IMU can provide the metrics of the traditional 6MPT with strong significant correlations between calculated laps and observer lap counts (r = 0.947, < 0.001) and distances (r = 0.970, < 0.001). Moreover, heart rate during the final minute was significantly correlated with calculated distance (r = 0.762, = 0.017). Enhanced 6MPT assessment can provide objective, quantitative, and comprehensive data for clinicians to effectively inform interventions in rehabilitation.
手动轮椅使用者（MWU）容易久坐不动，这会对他们的身体健康和心血管健康产生负面影响，因此定期评估对于确定适当的干预措施和生活方式改变非常重要。评估 MWU 身体健康的一种方法是 6 分钟推轮椅测试（6MPT），即在六分钟内尽可能远地推动轮椅。然而，依赖观察者的输入会引入主观性，而有限的定量数据则会限制全面评估。将传感器纳入 6MPT 可以解决这些局限性。在这里，十名 MWU 使用附加传感器进行了 6MPT：两个惯性测量单元（IMU）-一个安装在轮椅上，一个安装在手腕上，同时还佩戴了一个心率腕带。观察者记录了传统的距离和圈数测量值，而 IMU 数据则用于计算圈数、距离、速度和步频。结果表明，IMU 可以提供传统 6MPT 的指标，计算出的圈数与观察者的圈数计数之间存在很强的显著相关性（r = 0.947， < 0.001）和距离（r = 0.970， < 0.001）。此外，最后一分钟的心率与计算出的距离也存在显著相关性（r = 0.762， = 0.017）。增强的 6MPT 评估可以为临床医生提供客观、定量和全面的数据，以有效地为康复干预提供信息。
