Metabolic responses of women to exercise attributable to long term use of a manual wheelchair.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of long term use of a manual wheelchair by wheelchair-confined women (means = 14.6 years) on physiological responses to wheelchair ergometry. Six experimental subjects were compared to six able bodied women during maximal exercise as well as submaximal wheelchair ergometry at 50 and 80% of peak VO2. The wheelchair dependent women achieved higher power outputs, greater efficiency at the higher submaximal workload, less metabolic acidosis during submaximal exercise as well as less ventilatory stress. There was no significant difference in peak VO2 between the two groups of women. Because these were not athletically trained women, it was concluded that the long term use of a manual wheelchair leads to physiological adaptations favourable to the daily requirements of wheelchair locomotion.