Abstract
The present study examined the cardiorespiratory responses to propelling a new wheelchair prototype using a unique type of leg wheeling (LW) that allowed the subjects to propel the wheelchair using bilateral knee extension/flexion. Comparisons were made to arm wheeling (AW) and to treadmill running (TR) using a standard maximal oxygen consumption test to exhaustion. Nine female able-bodied subjects performed three incremental submaximal exercise bouts followed by exercise to exhaustion using AW and LW. The results showed that LW was more efficient than AW, as evidenced by lower cardiorespiratory effort at the same submaximal intensity during LW, and a lower physiological cost index (PCI—change in heart rate divided by velocity of wheeling) during maximal workloads. LW also elicited significantly higher peak cardiorespiratory values than AW but not TR. The cardiorespiratory variables measured during LW were also highly reliable. In conclusion, this unique form of LW was more efficient than AW during submaximal and maximal exercise.
Published Version
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