@article{ref1,
title="Upper limb nerve entrapments in elite wheelchair racers",
journal="American journal of physical medicine and rehabilitation",
year="1996",
author="Boninger, Michael L. and Robertson, R. N. and Wolff, M. and Cooper, Rory A.",
volume="75",
number="3",
pages="170-176",
abstract="The prevalence of upper limb nerve injuries has been reported to be as high as 73% in individuals who rely on manual wheelchairs for mobility. Many authors hypothesize that the repetitive trauma to carpal canal structures caused by propelling a wheelchair is the reason for this high prevalence. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of nerve conduction abnormalities in a group of elite wheelchair racers whose wrists are exposed to additional propulsion-related trauma during training and competition. We performed bilateral upper limb nerve conduction studies on each athlete (n = 12). The racers pushed their chairs an average of 56 miles a week for training purposes. Fifty percent of the athletes (n = 6) had evidence of median mononeuropathy by nerve conduction. Of these 6 racers, 5 had evidence of mononeuropathy bilaterally, making a total of 11 positive hands of the 23 tested. Twenty-five percent of the athletes had evidence of ulnar mononeuropathy at the wrist, and 25% had evidence of ulnar mononeuropathy at the elbow. Seventeen percent of athletes had evidence of radial nerve injury. Years with a disability accounted for a significant amount of the variance in the mean median sensory amplitude (R2 = 0.511; P = 0.020) and the mean ulnar palmar amplitude (R2 = 0.605; P = 0.008). Variables not correlated with nerve conduction studies include age, hours per day in a wheelchair not spent training, years competing, and number of miles pushed in training. Despite the amount of time spent training these wheelchair athletes have a similar or lower prevalence of median mononeuropathy then reported in the general wheelchair-using population.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0894-9115",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}