Manual wheelchair skill influences social participation

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Manual wheelchair skill influences social participation

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=30757

17 Sep 2005

This study describes the relationship between manual wheelchair skill

and social participation in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) one

year after injury.

Eighty-one persons with SCI in the Netherlands performed a wheelchair-

skills test.

Social participation was moderately related to the number of

wheelchair tasks that a person could perform and to the amount of

time and physical strain required to perform these tasks, with the

strongest association for performance time.

Investigators conclude that wheelchair-skills training must be a top

rehabilitation goal and that maintenance of those skills following

discharge from rehabilitation should be encouraged.