Wheelchair Mobility Performance Monitor

Wheelchair performance in sports and rehabilitation can be measured. These results can be used to improve performance in wheelchair sports or optimize wheelchair driving in daily life. It is important to gain insight into wheelchair movements, both within sports and for daily wheelchair users. Technology has been developed within The Hague University of Applied Sciences in collaboration with TU Delft that makes wheelchair movements easy to measure. Both within sports and for daily wheelchair users, it is important to gain insight into wheelchair kinematics. 

Wheelchair sports

Wheelchair athletes can use information such as distance travelled, maximum speed, number of rotations, etc. to see how intense a training session or match was. But they can also use the method to evaluate how effectively they are training and whether the wheelchair is set to deliver maximum sports performance. In cooperation with TeamNL, all top Dutch athletes are supported n optimizing their performance. For wheelchair racers, the best starting strategy is searched for, for wheelchair basketball players the desired intensity of training and for wheelchair tennis players the best configuration of the sports wheelchair.

Daily wheelchair use

The developed technology has been in use within sports for several years but has recently been applied within rehabilitation. Then, it is less about who can achieve the highest speed but focuses on how active the wheelchair user is. Just as able-bodied people use the pedometer to see if they have done enough in a day, wheelchair users can do the same with the WMPM. This gives them insight into activity levels throughout the day, but also allows them to determine which type of wheelchair or which settings they function best with

Research

The developed WMPM can therefore be used for individual use within sports and daily life, but the lectorate also uses the method for research. Within sport, for example, the effect of impairment on performance is being investigated to build scientific knowledge for fair rules within wheelchair sport. Within rehabilitation, measuring wheelchair use is an important source of information to create better guidelines for the rehabilitation process. How much activity is appropriate for a novice wheelchair user and when does an increased injury risk arise?

Now and the future

The projects undertaken by the lectorate around the WMPM are mainly aimed at further developing the technology and using it for research. The development is mainly aimed at making the technology accessible to every wheelchair user, i.e. with minimal cost and maximum ease of use. Research is mainly aimed at increasing scientific knowledge around wheelchair use and performance. These projects are mainly demand-driven, i.e. based on questions from rehabilitation centers, patient and sports associations.

Education

The research and development projects around the WMPM are closely linked to education. Students participate in projects and, through the lectorate's projects, can also contribute in research at, for example, Basalt rehabilitation, but also wheelchair athletes at the highest level. A unique opportunity that would not be possible without the cooperation of the lectorate and TeamNL.

More information

• Read more about another project from the research group TIBS, about better performance in the wheelchair spot with Wheelpower. Also check out the Wheelpower website.
• A podcast episode of NPO Radio 1 Focus discussed measurements in Paralympic sport. Listen to the episode here (in Dutch).
• BNR also devoted an item to sensors that are changing wheelchair sports (in Dutch).

Team

Professor Monique Berger and researchers Rienk van der Slikke and Melle van Dilgt from The Hague University of Applied Sciences are working on this project.

Contact

Rienk van der Slikke, [email protected], +31 (0)6 18989641