Bill Andrews, Crystal Ramsey and Srikant Vallabhajosula conducted research with DPT alumni Jhonelle Francis and Whitney Jaffe that has been accepted for publication in NeuroRehabilitation.
Elon Department of Physical Therapy faculty members Bill Andrews, Crystal Ramsey and Srikant Vallabhajosula, along with Jhonelle Francis DPT’18 and Whitney Jaffe DPT’19 have been notified their research study “Influence of Wheelchair Type on Wheelchair Propulsion Test Performance in Community-Dwelling, Adult Wheelchair Users” has been accepted for publication in NeuroRehabilitation.
Publication in the peer-reviewed journal NeuroRehabilitation (Impact Factor = 2.138) is the culmination of a multi-year project that Francis and Jaffe participated in as students at Elon. Participants in the study were active adults who are wheelchair users secondary to a pathology or injury. In this study, the researchers determined the reliability and developed typical values for performance on a clinical measure known as the Wheelchair Propulsion Test.
Participants were asked to perform the Wheelchair Propulsion Test in various wheelchairs. Performance on the Wheelchair Propulsion Test was better in their customized, personal wheelchairs compared to a standard wheelchair or even another ultra-lightweight wheelchair. The results of this study help justify the utilization of this clinical measure by rehabilitation professionals.