The Impact of Transfer Setup on the Performance of Independent Transfers: Phase I Final Report

Lateral grab bar use

The lateral grab bar was used least by subjects for the Adjustable gap protocol and most for the Side guard protocol. Lateral bar usage was not consistent for all transfers within a protocol ranging from 5% - 100% across all protocols and is likely influenced in part by alterations in the setup parameter (e.g. transferring higher may require usage while transferring lower may not). 

Table 11 shows the number of subjects for each protocol who used the lateral grab bar for initial placement of their leading or trailing hands and in what percentage of their transfers.  It can be noted that the lateral grab bar is used by more subjects when the transfer setup increases in level of difficulty (i.e. gap/height in combination or side guard).

Table 11 . Lateral grab bar use

Table 11 Alternative Text Description: This table shows the number of subjects for each protocol who used the lateral grab bar for the initial placement of their leading or trailing hands and in what percentage of their transfers.  The lateral grab bar was used by more subjects when the transfer setup increases in level of difficulty (i.e. gap/height in combination or side guard).

Table 12 summarizes the average clear space required for our subjects to position their WMD to perform a transfer in each protocol in terms of width, depth, and angle of approach (Figure 2).  In the side guard protocol subjects tended to locate their wheelchair close to a perpendicular position with respect to the transfer station. The transfer setups that posed more barriers for our subjects such as height/gap, side guard, and side guard with front grab bar required more space for positioning the WMD.

Table 12 . Average clear space needed and WMD orientation for transfer for each protocol (mean ± standard deviation).

Table 12 Alternative Text Description: This table gives the average clear space needed and WMD orientation for transfer for each protocol (mean ± standard deviation).  The transfer setups that posed more barriers such as height/gap, side guard, and side guard with front grab bar required more space for positioning the WMD.