WheelFit: A fitness app to promote active lifestyle in manual wheelchair users
Individuals who rely on manual wheelchairs face significant barriers to maintaining an active lifestyle and achieving recommended physical activity levels. A primary challenge lies in accurately monitoring their unique movement patterns and energy expenditure, as most commercial fitness trackers and algorithms are designed for ambulatory individuals and fail to provide relevant or precise data for wheelchair propulsion, such as push counts or distance traveled. This lack of tailored measurement tools makes it difficult for users to track progress, set appropriate goals, and receive meaningful feedback. Furthermore, accessing suitable exercise guidance is a considerable hurdle; readily available fitness resources and video libraries rarely offer adaptive exercises specifically designed for wheelchair users, limiting options for safe and effective home-based workouts. Consequently, there is a critical gap in comprehensive, user-specific solutions that combine accurate activity tracking with accessible, relevant exercise instruction and motivational support for this population.
Description
WheelFit is a mobile fitness application designed for manual wheelchair users that interfaces with adapted commercial wearable sensors containing gyroscopes and accelerometers. It collects movement data from both the user and the wheelchair, processing this data using custom algorithms to estimate physical activity metrics such as energy expenditure, distance traveled, push counts, and time spent at various activity intensity levels. The application provides real-time feedback and daily summaries of these metrics. It also includes a library of home-based exercise videos tailored for wheelchair users, covering aerobic, strength, and flexibility workouts. A web-based portal allows administrators to update app content and enables clinical professionals to remotely prescribe custom exercise routines, integrating activity feedback with exercise instructions.Applications
Commercial Applications1. Consumer Fitness & Wellness Platform: WheelFit provides manual wheelchair users with a dedicated mobile application to track activity, set goals, and access adaptive exercise routines for personal health and fitness.
2. Clinical Rehabilitation & Telehealth Solution: WheelFit enables healthcare professionals to remotely monitor, prescribe, and track physical activity and exercise routines for manual wheelchair users in clinical and long-term care settings.
3. Research Data & Analytics Tool: WheelFit's validated algorithms and sensor data collection capabilities offer a unique platform for researchers to study physical activity patterns and energy expenditure in manual wheelchair users.
4. Population Health & Wellness Programs: WheelFit can be deployed by employers, insurers, or public health initiatives to promote active lifestyles and improve health outcomes for manual wheelchair users within their populations.
5. Adaptive Sports Training & Performance: WheelFit offers specialized metrics like push counts and intensity levels, making it a valuable tool for manual wheelchair athletes and coaches to monitor training and performance.
6. Technology Licensing (Algorithms): The custom-developed and validated algorithms for estimating physical activity metrics in wheelchair users can be licensed to other wearable sensor or health technology companies.
7. Content Licensing (Exercise Library): The unique and expanding video library of adaptive exercises for manual wheelchair users can be licensed to other fitness platforms or educational institutions.
8. Educational & Training Resource: WheelFit's comprehensive content on physical activity guidelines, exercise safety, and adaptive exercises serves as a valuable teaching aid for adaptive physical education programs and professional training.
Advantages
1. Targeted Population and Relevant Metrics: Unlike general fitness apps or the Apple Watch's activity detection, WheelFit is specifically designed for manual wheelchair users, providing unique and validated metrics such as push counts, energy expenditure, and distance traveled, which are highly relevant to this population's activity patterns.2. Comprehensive and Validated Activity Monitoring: While academic studies by Nightingale et al., Garcia-Masso et al., and Hiremath et al. focus on accelerometer validation for wheelchair users, WheelFit integrates custom-developed and research-validated algorithms into a user-friendly mobile application, offering real-time, comprehensive feedback on multiple physical activity measures.
3. Integrated Adaptive Exercise Content and Guidance: Existing approaches lack a comprehensive library of home-based exercise videos (aerobics, strength, flexibility) specifically tailored for wheelchair users, combined with educational content on physical activity guidelines, exercise safety, and adaptive equipment, all within a single app.
4. Remote Clinical Prescription and Content Management: WheelFit offers a unique web-based portal allowing administrators and clinical professionals to remotely update content, push new exercise videos, and prescribe personalized exercise routines to users, a feature not typically found in existing fitness applications.
5. Sensor Agnostic Compatibility: Unlike proprietary solutions like the Apple Watch, WheelFit is designed to be compatible with any gyroscope- and accelerometer-based sensors, offering greater flexibility and accessibility for users who may already own or prefer different wearable devices.