Design of a controllable wheelchair ergometer for simulation of real life conditions

The assessment of wheelchair users in sports and rehabilitation at several levels, requires of ergometric systems to execute controlled tests with simultaneous measurements of physiological and biomechanical variables. Such systems must simulate the real conditions. A number of ad-hoc ergometers have been developed but the majority of the devices fail to permit adaptation of the users’s current wheelchair. This paper reports the design of a novel controllable wheelchair ergometer for simulation of different types of propulsion and analysis of metabolic cost and biomechanics during.