COMPARISON OF UPPER-LIMB STRENGTH IN WHEELCHAIR USERS AND NON-WHEELCHAIR USERS WITH PHYSICAL IMPAIRMENTS

Abstract

The current research was an attempt to compare muscular strength of the upper limb between non-wheelchair and wheelchair users with physical impairments. Purposive sampling method was used to select 20 students aged 10-17 years in PSRD School consisting of 5 wheelchair users and 15 non-wheelchair users. The methodology was a quantitative, comparative research approach, which was school based. A need-based assessment was carried out by Manual Muscle Testing (MMT) to assess upper-limb muscle strengths and individual functional impairments in the baseline and establish the specific training needs before the strength assessment. The Brockport bench press test was then used to evaluate muscular strength in upper limbs. The SPSS was used to analyze the data through descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) and non-parametric inferential analysis. The sample size was of small size and the data were not normally distributed; therefore, tau-U was employed to determine the difference in muscular strength of the arms of wheelchair users and non-wheelchair users in the upper limbs. The findings indicated that there were statistically significant differences in upper-limb muscular strength among various movements with the findings of non-wheelchair users having a higher muscular strength and the wheelchair users having a relatively high muscular strength in the specific upper-limb functions in mobility and daily activity needs. These results indicate the relevance of need-based and personalized physical training programs, which are based on MMT results, to meet the functional differences of wheelchair and non-wheelchair users with physical disabilities.