Abstract
Kirby RL, Bennett S, Smith C, Parker K, Thompson K. Wheelchair curb climbing: randomized
controlled comparison of highly structured and conventional training methods.
Objectives
Our primary objective was to test the hypothesis that a highly structured training
method for wheelchair curb-climbing requires less training time than conventional
training. Our secondary objectives were to test the hypotheses that this training
method increases success rate, reduces the need for spotter interventions, and reduces
the participants' perceptions of difficulty.
Design
Randomized controlled trial.
Setting
Rehabilitation center.
Participants
Able-bodied participants (N=16), randomly allocated to intervention (n=7) and control
(n=9) groups.
Interventions
Both groups received up to 5 training sessions. Each session included instruction,
practice, and feedback. The participants in the intervention and control groups used
18- and 9-step approaches, respectively. Training in the intervention group also included
video demonstration, trainer demonstrations, mirror feedback, and standardized feedback
phrases.
Main Outcome Measures
Total training time, success rate at climbing a 15cm-high curb, the number of spotter
interventions during training, and a questionnaire.
Results
The mean ± SD training times for the successful participants in the intervention and
control groups were 42.5±24.4 minutes and 87.4±45.3 minutes (P=.084). The curb-climbing success rates of the intervention and control groups were
86% and 89% (P=1.000). There were no significant differences between the groups regarding the number
of spotter interventions (P=.203) or for participants' perceptions of difficulty (P=.050).
Conclusions
In comparison with a conventional method for curb-climbing, a highly structured method
seems to require less than 50% of the training time for able-bodied participants,
although this finding is only a trend statistically. This has implications for clinical
training.
Key Words
List of Abbreviations:
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 03, 2008
Footnotes
Supported in part by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (grant no. 200602DSM-160943-162386).
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit on the authors or on any organization with which the authors are associated.
Reprints are not available from the authors.
Published online November 1, 2008 at www.archives-pmr.org.
Identification
Copyright
© 2008 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
