Evaluation of wheelchair users in the field and in laboratory: Feasibilityof progressive tests and critical velocity tests

The feasibility and relevance of three field tests previously studied in ru nning - Montreal progressive Track Test (MTT), critical velocity test (V-c) and maximal velocity with lactate steady state (V-ch)- were investigated fo r wheelchair exercises performed on a 400 m outdoor track. Ten wheelchair a thletes from the Handisport Federation of Senegal participated in this fiel d study. The MTT consisted of a progressive exercise with a 1 km h(-l) velo city increment every 2 mins. The velocity at the last stage of the MTT (max imal aerobic speed, MAS) was 14 +/- 1 km h (-1). The critical velocity (V-c ) was calculated as equal to the slope of the linear relationship between e xhaustion time and the distance covered during three exercises at constant velocities until exhaustion (85, 90 and 95% of the MAS). The V-c was equal to 11.9 +/- 0.9 km h(-l). The maximal velocity with lactate steady state (V -ch) was calculated from the lactate slope during two exercises at 65 and 7 5% of the MAS. Whereas the MTT and the critical velocity rest were feasibil e, the measurements of V-ch could not be used because of many absurd result s. A second study in laboratory, which was carried out on 13 wheelchair use rs, showed that the concept of critical velocity and critical power can be used in wheelchair testing on a treadmill (TM) or in arm cranking (AC). Thi s study also showed that the maximal oxygen uptake (V-o2max) and the heart rate (HR) at the end of an incremental exercise were similar with TM and AC .