The ergonomics of different tyres and tyre pressure during wheelchair propulsion

Abstract

It is believed that the newer solid tyres on wheelchairs perform as well as pneumatic tyres along with less cost and time for maintenance. The questions are: (1) do solid tyres perform as well as pneumatic tyres and (2) what is the critical level of pneumatic tyre pressure before wheeling efficiency decreases? Part one measured the rolling resistance differences of five commonly used wheelchair tyres (three pneumatic and two solid) under four different tyre pressures (100, 75, 50 and 25 of inflation). Part two measured the oxygen consumption in 15 participants with paraplegia, during wheelchair propulsion, comparing the same four levels of tyre inflation. The solid tyres performed worse than all three pneumatic tyres even when tyres were under-inflated to 25% of tyre pressure. Two of the pneumatic tyres showed significant decreases in rolling between 100 and 50%, but there were no significant differences in rolling distance between 100 and 75% pressure. The physiological study showed that energy expenditure increased significantly at 50% of tyre-inflation. Health care facilities are finding ways to decrease cost by using solid tyres on all wheelchairs. This study shows that benefits to clients and staff using pneumatic tyres far outweigh the minimal cost in time to maintain adequate tyre inflation.

Evaluation of wheelchair resistive forces during straight and turning trajectories across different wheelchair configurations using free-wheeling coast-down test

“…Moreover, pneumatic tires with different inflation levels have been shown to have different rolling resistances [3]. By using the same type of pneumatic tires, Sawatzky et al found that a tire inflated to 100 percent had significantly less rolling resistance than tires inflated to 50 percent, but did not find a difference comparing tires inflated to 100 and 75 percent [3]. Our results both corroborate and extend these results to add to the knowledge about tire inflation.…”

“…Prior studies have reported that tire type and pressure influence rolling resistance and thus can change propulsion effort [3,10,13]. Pneumatic tires have been shown to have lower rolling resistance than solid tires [10,13].…”

“…Pneumatic tires have been shown to have lower rolling resistance than solid tires [10,13]. Moreover, pneumatic tires with different inflation levels have been shown to have different rolling resistances [3]. By using the same type of pneumatic tires, Sawatzky et al found that a tire inflated to 100 percent had significantly less rolling resistance than tires inflated to 50 percent, but did not find a difference comparing tires inflated to 100 and 75 percent [3].…”

“…The magnitude of this propulsion torque depends on the kinematics of the maneuver and the characteristics of the user-MWC system. On an MWC with greater frictional resistance, the user needs to exert greater instantaneous force and total effort while completing a maneuver [1][2][3]. Greater effort can lead to difficulty in achieving desired speeds, a higher probability of fatigue over long bouts of mobility, and difficulty negotiating inclines.…”

Assessment of field rolling resistance of manual wheelchairs

“…Finally, the solid tires exhibited significantly higher RP values than the pneumatics. Considering that the solid and pneumatic rear wheels had similar radii, the fact that the former exhibited a higher RF than the latter is consistent with the previous results [5][6]27]. Thus, even if solid tires do not need to be maintained, improvements in their materials are required to reach the rolling properties of pneumatic tires.…”