QBA-FRM

The repetition of mechanically demanding tasks leads to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), which are all the more frequent as muscular capacities are degraded (ageing, disability). Moving around in a manual wheelchair (FRM) is a mode of locomotion that places heavy demands on the musculoskeletal system. As a result, many users (30% to 70%) suffer from musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) combined with accessibility problems. Facilitating access for FRM users is therefore both a social and a public health issue. However, the issue of accessibility is made more complex by the specific needs of each individual (linked to greater or lesser levels of motor skills).

While the accessibility of establishments open to the public (ERP) has been a legal obligation since January 1, 2015, the accessibility attestation mainly takes into account the notions of footprint and maximum admissible slope. This approach does not provide for any gradation in the level of accessibility, and effective accessibility for all cannot therefore be guaranteed by these recommendations.

Furthermore, no solution exists to quantify the overall difficulty associated with a journey, or to help users choose optimal routes taking into account their level of disability. The reason for this lies not in the complexity of planning algorithms, but in the impossibility of assigning a biomechanical cost to different situations. A few studies have nevertheless shown that it is more difficult to move on slopes or inclines than on level ground, but no study has quantified accessibility extensively from a biomechanical point of view. There are several reasons for this, first and foremost the ability to study a variety of situations in a perfectly reproducible and controlled way, and the ability to determine the varied biomechanical parameters (joint kinematics, muscle tensions, joint stresses, mechanical power, etc.) of complex structures such as the shoulder and spine. These two elements combined are indispensable for proposing models enabling the attribution of a "biomechanical cost" to different environmental situations, thus providing the gateway to quantified path assessments and optimal path-finding methods.

The aim of the project is to construct an index reflecting the concept of biomechanical cost and to quantify it for a wide range of environmental situations. This index will be based on various biomechanical parameters such as muscular and joint stresses, or mechanical power developed, for example. Its quantification in different environmental situations will be carried out with the help of an experimental campaign requiring the development of an FRM locomotion simulator (LAMIH) and a biomechanical model taking into account the individual specificities of the subjects (IBHGC).