Mhatre Anand, DiGiovine Carmen, Boccardi Alyssa, Wu Fangzheng, Hess Bryan
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Medicine, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA.
Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Assist Technol. 2025 Mar 4;37(2):135-144. doi: 10.1080/10400435.2024.2448178. Epub 2025 Jan 27.
Wheelchair part failures and repairs have significantly increased over the last decade, leading to severe consequences for wheelchair users. Servicing these devices by wheelchair repair technicians has reduced part failures. However, no tools or technologies have been developed to support servicing in practice. To inform servicing events, risk factors affecting wheelchair quality and reliability need to be identified. This pilot study tracks wheelchair usage for a week in the community for eight ultralight manual wheelchair users and assesses the relationship between usage variables and user-reported part failures over 20 months. The participants' preferences for using smart technology for wheelchair servicing were evaluated. At least 73 wheelchair part failures and two adverse consequences were reported. Data analysis indicated associations between part failure frequency, usage variable of road shocks, wheelchair maintenance frequency, and the user's demographic characteristics of training status and transportation. Six participants favored using smart technology for wheelchair servicing. This study's findings encourage the development of usage monitoring technology and failure prediction models to support technician-led servicing and prevent wheelchair failures and user consequences.
在过去十年中，轮椅部件故障和维修显著增加，给轮椅使用者带来了严重后果。由轮椅维修技术人员对这些设备进行维修减少了部件故障。然而，尚未开发出在实际操作中支持维修的工具或技术。为了指导维修工作，需要确定影响轮椅质量和可靠性的风险因素。这项试点研究对八名超轻型手动轮椅使用者在社区中一周的轮椅使用情况进行了跟踪，并评估了20个月内使用变量与用户报告的部件故障之间的关系。评估了参与者对使用智能技术进行轮椅维修的偏好。报告了至少73起轮椅部件故障和两起不良后果。数据分析表明，部件故障频率、道路震动使用变量、轮椅维护频率以及用户的培训状况和交通等人口统计学特征之间存在关联。六名参与者赞成使用智能技术进行轮椅维修。这项研究的结果鼓励开发使用监测技术和故障预测模型，以支持技术人员主导的维修工作，并防止轮椅故障和对用户造成的后果。
