'Smart' Wheelchair Will Prevent Injuries in Future Designs

Wheelchairs are, without a doubt, extremely useful devices, enabling people with various disabilities to move around in a faster and easier manner, but they also affect their users in an adverse manner (especially as far as upper limb wear is concerned), but it seems that things will change for the better on the future, especially if the design we'll talk about as follows gets implemented in more products of this type.

So, in order to help wheelchair users suffering from shoulder injuries, engineering consultancy firm Frazer-Nash has partnered with with University College London (UCL) and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital Trust (RNOH) in order to develop a prototype wheelchair.

The wheelchair is built around a revious design called the Powerwheel, which was developed by Frazer-Nash for UK Sport as a training device to improve the performance of Paralympic athletes, and features a couple of very interesting innovations, such as spoked rather than carbon fibre racing wheels, as well a system allowing scientists to measure the amount of force used for pushing.

The scientists hope that their research this will provide information on the levels of force and specific manoeuvres that could lead to potential damage to the shoulder, helping wheelchair manufacturers come up with a solution that will circumvent this issue.

Alexandra Knight, Frazer-Nash Engineering consultant, commented: “We are delighted to be supporting the NHS on such an important piece of research, and bring our strong track record in designing innovative medical products to the project.”

“As well as helping focus an individual’s rehabilitation regime, the prototype has the potential to inform the future design of wheelchairs that could ultimately enhance the quality of life for thousands of users,” Mrs. Knight concluded.

Of course, we're eagerly looking forward to seeing this solution implemented in real-life products, but it's quite likely that we'll have to wait a while longer for that to happen.