Abstract
McInnes MDF, Kirby RL, MacLeod DA. The contribution of vision to wheelie balance.
Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2000;81:1081-4. Objective: To test the hypothesis that vision plays an important role in the maintenance of
balance during a stationary wheelchair maneuver in which the wheelchair user lifts
and maintains the chair's front wheels off the floor (wheelie). Design: Within-subject comparisons of the ability of subjects to perform wheelies with their
eyes open (EO) and their eyes closed (EC). Setting: Kinesiologic laboratory. Participants: Ten able-bodied adults, a sample of convenience. Main Outcome Measures: Postural sway, as reflected by the standard deviation of sagittal-plane movements
of the center of pressure of the chair's right rear wheel on a force platform during
a 10-second stationary wheelie balance, and the number of mistrials. Results: The postural sway for all trials (3 EO and EC data collections at the end of each
of 3 one-hour training sessions) was 88% greater with the EC than with the EO condition
(p < .001) and the number of mistrials was 324% greater (p = .001). By the end of the final training session, the postural sway with the EC
(4.0cm) was still 100% greater than with the EO (2.0cm) (p < .001) although there was no longer a difference in the number of mistrials. Conclusion: Vision plays an important role in the maintenance of a stationary wheelie, but wheelies
can be maintained with the eyes closed. These findings are relevant to the training
of wheelchair users and also provide broader insights into the nature of wheelchair
function and dynamic balance. © 2000 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy
of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
December 23,
1999
Received:
September 21,
1999
Footnotes
☆Supported by the Chamberlain-Heaslip Foundation through the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine Summer Scholarship Program.
☆☆No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit upon the authors or upon any organization with which the authors are associated.
★Reprint requests to R. Lee Kirby, Nova Scotia Rehabilitation Centre, 1341 Summer Street, Halifax, NS, Canada B3H 4K4.
★★Suppliers
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Copyright
© 2000 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
