Kinematic comparison of stand-up and standard manual wheelchair propulsion

The development and use of stand-up wheelchairs have become increasingly popular due to consumers becoming more aware of the benefits that passive wheelchair standing may provide. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the upper extremity kinematic differences between standing and sitting wheelchair propulsion. The kinematic analysis involved calculating joint angles and displacements. There were no distinct differences found between the starting and ending joint angles and joint excursions when the four propulsion conditions were compared. The study did not conclusively find kinematic differences between stand-up and standard wheelchair propulsion due to large variations in joint angles and displacements.