title: Wheelchair-mounted accelerometers for measurement of physical activity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the validity of a wheelchair frame-mounted accelerometer for the assessment of physical activity of wheelchair users.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twelve collegiate wheelchair basketball players participated in this study. The study was conducted in a modern indoor gymnasium at a university in the USA. A randomized, crossover experimental design was used to investigate accelerometer output, participant heart rate, and distance travelled. Participants performed two trials of wheeling at a combination of two different effort levels (light and moderate: Prescribed using perceived exertion) and two different modes (continuous and stop-go).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Accelerometer vector magnitude activity counts (VM), heart rate (HR), and distance travelled were significantly different between light and moderate effort (p < 0.01). The continuous and stop-go wheeling modes were not significantly different (p = 0.37) for VM, but were significantly different (p < 0.01) for both HR and distance. Between-trial reliability of all data collapsed for the effort and mode combinations were: VM: r = 0.85; HR: r = 0.86; and distance: r = 0.96.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A wheelchair frame-mounted accelerometer differentiated between perceptually-prescribed low and moderate effort levels and may prove to be a valid instrument in the detection of a wheelchair users' physical activity. [Box: see text].
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401, USA. sgendle@cba.ua.edu
authors.forename: Shawn C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Gendle
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Richardson
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Leeper
authors.forename: L Brent
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Hardin
authors.forename: J Matt
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: Phillip A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Bishop
mesh_terms: D000054:Acceleration; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001490:Basketball / Q000502:physiology*; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013334:Students; D014495:Universities; D014910:Wheelchairs; D055815:Young Adult