Abstract
Purpose-designed compliant flooring and carpeting have been promoted as a means for reducing fall-related injuries in high-risk environments, such as long-term care. However, it is not known whether these surfaces influence the forces that long-term care staff exert when pushing residents in wheelchairs. We studied 14 direct-care staff who pushed a loaded wheelchair instrumented with a triaxial load cell to test the effects on hand force of flooring overlay (vinyl versus carpet) and flooring subfloor (concrete versus compliant rubber [brand: SmartCells]). During straight-line pushing, carpet overlay increased initial and sustained hand forces compared to vinyl overlay by 22–49% over a concrete subfloor and by 8–20% over a compliant subfloor. Compliant subflooring increased initial and sustained hand forces compared to concrete subflooring by 18–31% when under a vinyl overlay. In contrast, compliant flooring caused no change in initial or sustained hand forces compared to concrete subflooring when under a carpet overlay.
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