DEVELOPMENT OF PUSHRIM FORCE AND MEASUREMENT DEVICE

对于许多大量截瘫患者来说，首选的行动方式是手动轮椅。与电动轮椅相比，手动轮椅使用者（MWUs）更喜欢自行推进，因为它具有锻炼益处，独立性和灵活性。在MWU人群中，手臂和肩部受伤导致无法推动手动轮椅是常见的。这种继发性残疾状况导致生活质量下降和社会成本增加，因为独立性和灵活性减弱，缺乏锻炼和相关运动可能导致其他健康问题，如肥胖和压疮。目前唯一可行的解决方案是，对于受伤的MWU来说，使用电动椅或动力附加装置来阻止其自我推进。研究表明，超过50%的手动轮椅使用者最终会受到伤害，限制了他们的一项或多项日常生活活动。研究已经将这些衰弱性损伤的原因与轮椅设计的生物力学联系起来。从积极的角度来看，初步研究表明，通过修改轮椅设计的关键变量（如推环力矩和后轴位置）的生物力学，可以减少轮椅损伤。这项拨款提案的主题是SMARTWheel，正在开发中，以实现减少mwu受伤和伴随的继发性残疾的目标。SMART将有可能减少伤害，因为它将能够简单，准确和经济有效地测量与轮椅设计相关的关键生物力学变量。通过使用SMARTWheel来了解导致截瘫患者手臂和肩部疼痛的机制，我们可以开始预防伤害的任务。此外，除了电动轮椅的处方外，我们还可以开发其他方法来治疗手动轮椅使用者的手臂疼痛。拟议的商业应用：作为SMARTWheel商业可行性的证明，香港理工学院和多伦多儿童医院等几家领先的研究机构已经购买了SMARTWheel，以更好地了解轮椅设计的生物力学。他们对SMARTWheel的概念做出了承诺，尽管该设备目前的形式很难使用，因为它是一个原型，没有标准的硬件、软件和机械设计特征，它需要成为一个商业上可行的产品。

For many of the large population of people with paraplegia the preferred method of mobility is a manual wheelchair. Manual Wheelchair Users (MWUs) prefer self-propulsion because of its exercise benefits, independence and flexibility when compared to the alternative of an electric powered wheelchair. Among the MWU population, arm and shoulder injuries leading to an inability to propel a manual wheelchair are common. This secondary disability condition leads to a reduction in quality of life and increased societal costs because independence and flexibility is diminished and lack of exercise and associated movement can lead to other heath problems such as obesity and pressure ulcers. The only solution currently available to a MWU who has an injury that prevents self-propulsion is the use of an electric powered chair, or power add-on unit. Studies have shown that over 50% of manual wheelchair users eventually experience an injury that limits one or more of their activities of daily living. Research has linked the cause of these debilitating injuries to the biomechanics of wheelchair design. On a positive basis, preliminary research suggests wheelchair injuries can be reduced by modifying the biomechanics of key wheelchair design variables such as pushrim moments and rear axle placement. The subject of this grant proposal, the SMARTWheel, is being developed to achieve the goal of reducing injury and concomitant secondary disability of MWUs. The SMART will make possible injury reduction because it will be able to simply, accurately and cost effectively measure the key biomechanic variables associated with wheelchair design. By using the SMARTWheel to understanding the mechanisms that contribute toward the development of arm and shoulder pain among MWUs with paraplegia, we can begin the task of injury prevention. Furthermore, we may be able to develop other means of treating arm pain among manual wheelchair users besides the prescription of an electric powered wheelchair. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: As proof of the SMARTWheeI commercial viability several leading research institutions such as Hong Kong Polytechnic and Children's Hospital of Toronto have already purchased the SMARTWheel to better understand the biomechanics of wheelchair design. They have made the commitment to the SMARTWheel concept despite the fact that the device in its current form is difficult to use because it is a prototype without the standard hardware, software and mechanical design features it needs to be a commercially viable product.