Case Study
New geared wheelchair wheel system makes uphill travel easier and safer for chair-bound people
Your Global Compounder of Custom Engineered Thermoplastics A good wheelchair can be of tre- mendous benefit to a person oth- erwise unable to get around due to illness or injury. Most of us don’t realize just how much pain and risk can be involved in their day- to-day use. “Wheelchair propulsion is a highly complex movement that requires short, fast, continuous effort with both hands and both arms; the stress on the shoulders and wrists can be significant, and can cause people intense pain,” explained Mechanical Engineer, Paulo Rodi of Plásticos Mueller, a success- ful injection molding company in Brazil. The biomechanical hazards, he notes, are greatly intensified as the user tries to climb a slope, with gravity increasing the effort required for movement, as well as add