A kinematic model to analyze and simulate wheelchair propulsion

Manual wheelchair propulsion is a well known factor of upper limb musculoskeletal disorders risk. Thus, we propose a clinically usable simulation method that permits to evaluate impacts of wheelchair configurations on joints during wheelchair propulsion. We showed that small differences between settings could have great repercussions on upper limb kinematics. Simulated kinematics data are in accordance with real data and thus the kinematic model developed here could be helpful in clinical settings when prescribing a wheelchair.