Humeral elevation workspace during daily life of adults with spinal cord injury who use a manual wheelchair compared to age and sex matched able-bodied controls

This study investigates the arm movements of manual wheelchair users with spinal cord injuries (SCI) compared to able-bodied individuals. It focuses on how much time each group spends with their upper arm at different elevation angles during daily activities. Researchers used inertial measurement units (IMUs) to track arm positions throughout the day. The goal was to see if wheelchair users spend more time in arm positions that might compress shoulder tendons, potentially contributing to shoulder pain. The study found that individuals with SCI spent a larger portion of their day with their arms elevated in a range associated with tendon compression compared to the control group.

• 1
  Individuals with SCI spent a significantly lower percentage of the day in 0–30˚ of humeral elevation compared to controls.
• 2
  The SCI cohort spent a significantly higher percentage of time in elevations associated with tendon compression (30–60˚ of humeral elevation) than controls.
• 3
  There was no evidence of the effect of injury level, years of MWC use, age, or sex on the humeral elevation workspace for individuals with SCI.