Effect of different handgrip angles on work distribution during hand cycling at submaximal power levels

Christian Krämer, Gabriel Schneider, Harald Böhm, Isabella Klöpfer-Krämer, Veit Senner

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

30 Scopus citations

Abstract

The effect of different handle angles on work distribution during hand cycling was determined. Able-bodied subjects performed hand cycling at 20% of maximum power level (mean (SD) power level: 90.0 (25.8) W) at a cadence of 70 rpm using handle angles of ±30°, ±15° and 0°. The handle angle had a significant effect on work during the pull down (p < 0.001) and lift up (p = 0.005) sector, whereby the highest work was performed with handle angles of +30° and -15° respectively. The cycle sector had a significant effect on work (p < 0.001) and significantly (p = 0.002) higher work was performed in the pull down sector (25% higher than mean work over one cycle) as compared to the lift up sector (30% lower than mean work over one cycle). Therefore, a fixed handle angle of +30° is suggested to be optimal for power generation. The results of this study help to optimise the handbike-user interface. A more pronated handle angle compared to the one conventionally used was found to improve the performance of hand cycling and thereby the mobility of disabled people.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1276-1286
Number of pages11
JournalErgonomics
Volume52
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - 2009

Keywords

  • Hand cycling
  • Handle angle
  • Work distribution

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