Influence of back support shape in wheelchairs offering pelvic support on asymmetrical sitting posture and pressure points during reaching tasks in stroke patients

PLoS One. 2020 Apr 21;15(4):e0231860. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231860. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Many poststroke hemiplegic patients have an asymmetrical wheelchair-sitting posture. This study aimed to investigate the impact of different back support shapes on asymmetrical sitting posture and pressure points among poststroke hemiplegic patients during an activities of daily living-related reaching task. This study included 23 poststroke hemiplegic patients who performed tasks that involved the movement of objects using the unaffected upper limb to the affected side while sitting in a conventional wheelchair (C-WC) with a flat back support or a wheelchair providing pelvic and thoracic support (P-WC). Body alignment angles from video images and pressure distribution on supporting surfaces were measured using a two-dimensional motion analysis software (Dartfish) and a pressure mapping system (FSA). Regarding movement performance, although postural asymmetry increased in both wheelchair types, the degree of postural variation was smaller with P-WC use than C-WC use (p < 0.05), with partly reduced postural asymmetry. With P-WC, one-sided ischial asymmetrical pressure was significantly less after the movement (p < 0.05). In conclusion, P-WC's back support shape contributed to a decrease in postural asymmetry for pelvic girdle support both at rest and during movement. This highlights the importance of a wheelchair back support shape and may help to increase the quality of activities of daily living movement in poststroke hemiplegic patients in wheelchairs.

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Equipment Design
  • Female
  • Hemiplegia / etiology
  • Hemiplegia / pathology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Pelvis / physiology*
  • Posture
  • Pressure
  • Sitting Position
  • Stroke / complications
  • Stroke / pathology*
  • Wheelchairs*

Grants and funding

Social Medical Corporation Hokuto provided support in the form of salaries to the authors (AU and MA) but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.