Conception of an innovative racing wheelchair simulator and instrumented wheels to assess and improve the racing propulsion biomechanics via real-time biofeedback

加拿大约有26万人使用手动轮椅。由于许多物理、社会和环境障碍，使用厕所往往与久坐不动的生活方式、身体失调和生活质量下降有关，每年因发病而造成的费用超过800万美元。WC运动可以减少这种身体不活动的螺旋。然而，由于日常厕所的流动性造成继发性肌肉骨骼损伤的一半厕所用户由于高和重复的关节负荷，然后厕所运动需要特别注意，因为关节负荷甚至更高。不幸的是，知识的厕所运动生物力学是稀缺的，由于没有足够的测量设备。目前没有仪表车轮可以记录在高动态条件下，如WC运动的推进动力学。此外，目前还没有一种WC模拟器能够再现受控的、真实的WC运动条件或提供生物反馈来改善用户的推进技术。我的长期主要目标是设计新技术，并在WC运动生物力学方面产生新知识。在未来5年内，将致力于以下具体目标，这些目标都集中在与轮椅比赛相关的生物力学和技术研究方面：目标1：设计和验证两个新的仪表化赛车车轮，以记录真实的比赛条件下的双边推进动力学，使用用户自己的WC，而不增加显著的重量或滚动阻力。目标2：设计和验证一个创新的轮椅模拟器，使用用户自己的WC，在受控和逼真的实验室环境中使用新的车轮原型记录赛车运动学，肌电图（EMG）和动力学。该模拟器将利用先进的力反馈、视觉和声学，为用户提供身临其境的赛车环境。目标3：分析赛车生物力学，并根据新模拟器上的生物力学采集结果，模拟不同技术对性能和关节负荷的影响。目标4：创建一个实时生物反馈系统，该系统在真实的时间内估计关节动力学，并将该变量作为听觉提供，视觉和力量的生物反馈给用户。这项创新的工作将使充分了解赛车生物力学，从而最大限度地提高性能，减少关节负荷。它将允许在受控和现实的条件下测试标准和运动轮椅的新原型，允许研究疲劳和损伤的发展以及WC训练期间生物反馈的影响。它还将允许在WC体育技术领域形成高素质的人才。未来，这项研究计划将允许将个性化运动训练融入康复过程，使整个手动厕所用户受益，并减少与身体活动相关的巨大成本。

There are about 260 000 manual Wheelchair (WC) users in Canada. Due to many physical, social and environmental barriers, WC use is often associated to a sedentary lifestyle, physical deconditioning and decreased quality of life, leading to annual costs of more than 8 M$ due to morbidity. WC sports may reduce this spiral of physical inactivity. However, as everyday WC mobility causes secondary musculoskeletal impairment to half of the WC users due to a high and repetitive joint load, then WC sports need special attention because the joint load is even higher.Unfortunately, knowledge on WC sports biomechanics is scarce due to the unavailability of adequate measurement equipment. No current instrumented wheel can record propulsion kinetics during highly dynamic conditions such as WC sports. Moreover, no current WC simulator can reproduce controlled, realistic WC sports conditions or provide biofeedback to improve the users' propulsion techniques.My long-term main objective is to design new technologies and generate new knowledge in WC sport biomechanics. During the next 5 years, the following specific objectives, which all focus on research in biomechanics and technologies related to wheelchair racing, will be addressed:Obj. 1: Design and validate two new instrumented racing wheels to record bilateral propulsion kinetics in real racing conditions, using the users' own WCs, without adding significant weight or rolling resistance.Obj. 2: Design and validate an innovative wheelchair simulator to record racing kinematics, electromyography (EMG) and kinetics with the new wheel prototypes in a controlled and realistic laboratory environment, using the users' own WCs. This simulator will make use of advanced force feedback, visuals and acoustics to provide an immersive racing environment to the users.Obj. 3: Analyze racing biomechanics and simulate the effect of different techniques on performance and joint load based on biomechanical acquisitions on the new simulator.Obj. 4: Create a real-time biofeedback system that estimates the joint dynamics in real time and that provides this variable as auditory, visual and force biofeedback to the users.This innovative work will allow full understanding of racing biomechanics and therefore maximize performance and reduce joint load. It will allow the testing of new prototypes of standard and sports wheelchairs in controlled and realistic conditions, allow research on the development of fatigue and injury and on the effects of biofeedback during WC training. It will also allow the formation of highly qualified personnel in the fields of WC sports technologies. In the future, this research program will allow the integration of personalized sports training into the rehabilitation process, benefiting the whole population of manual WC users and reducing the enormous costs related to physical inactivity.