Abstract
A concern related to air travel by people with disabilities is the risk of low-back injuries to persons transferring the traveler to or from the aircraft seat. Two possible approaches to lessening this risk of injury is the removal of spatial obstructions or the use of assistive devices. This study investigated the effects of a fixed seat armrest and of using a transfer board and slide or a transfer sling on the trunk kinematics of the rear transferor as 25 pairs of participants transferred a dummy between a wheelchair and an aircraft seat. The armrest, board-and-slide, and sling conditions each influenced multiple trunk kinematic variables relative to the control condition. For the armrest and board-and-slide conditions, some effects were consistent with increased low-back injury risk and others with decreased risk. All effects of the transfer sling were consistent with a decreased risk of low-back injury, supporting its use during dependent transfers on board an aircraft.
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