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

Adjustable height protocol: From initial setup, only the height of the platform was adjusted incrementally: higher (Figure 3) and lower than the subject’s seat.  The amount of vertical distance that the seat was raised/lowered each time depended on the subject’s perceived and observed transfer abilities. The maximum and minimum heights the subject could transfer to/from the platform were recorded.  As WMD seat heights differed among subjects, we also computed the difference between their seat height and the absolute maximum and minimum height they attained to calculate height differentials.

Figure 3 . Subject transferring to the transfer station set at a higher (left) and lower (right) height than the wheelchair