Navigating the course: assessing wheelchair mobility performance of rigid and folding manual wheelchair frames in able-bodied participants

Background: Selecting a manual wheelchair frame requires balancing transportability, biophysical demands, and wheelchair mobility performance (WMP). Traditional folding frames facilitate transport but increase rolling resistance and energy loss due to flexibility. A newly developed hybrid frame enhances rigidity to reduce power loss while maintaining foldability, aiming to improve WMP. Aim: To evaluate how rigid, folding, and hybrid wheelchair frames impact WMP by measuring linear and rotational velocity and acceleration during three flat-surfaced tests using able-bodied participants Materials and Methods: Forty-eight able-bodied participants completed three WMP tests: 15 m sprint, figure-of-eight, and slalom course. Data from inertial measurement units were collected to calculate WMP variables. Results: Repeated measures ANOVA revealed that using the hybrid frame resulted in the highest linear velocity during the 15 m sprint (p = 0.004) compared to both the folding and rigid frame. For both the figure-of-eight and slalom, shorter distances were travelled with the hybrid and rigid frames, compared to the folding frame (p ≤ 0.013). Rotational mean velocity was lower for the folding frame compared to the hybrid frame. Rotational peak acceleration during both the figure-of-eight and slalom test was highest for the rigid (p = 0.002 and p ≤ 0.001), followed by the hybrid, with the lowest for the folding frame. Conclusion: The hybrid frame, as intermediary solution, exhibited better WMP than the folding frame, with higher linear and rotational velocities and acceleration. Although its rotational WMP parameters were slightly inferior to the rigid frame, it retains the advantage of being foldable.