Josh Leonardis received funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health to study why female manual wheelchair users experience shoulder pain and pathology at greater rates than males. Leonardis is a researcher at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, an assistant professor of health and kinesiology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the director of the Musculoskeletal Morphology and Biomechanics Laboratory. It's well-documented in literature that females experience musculoskeletal pain at greater rates and intensities than their male counterparts, and this rings true for manual wheelchair users.
We're seeing females in this cohort experiencing pain, and potentially injuries and pathologies more frequently." Josh Leonardis, researcher, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology Leonardis aims to reveal the sex-specific effects of wheelchair use in childhood and adolescence. He'll measure upper extremity anatomy, physiology, neuromuscular control and biomechanics with the long-term goal to optimize early detection, prevention and treatment of shoulder pain.
While Leonardis and his team will investigate these factors over the next two years, potential solutions include improving the fit of the wheelchair, ideating optimal chair design for individuals and updating usage guidelines which haven't been amended since 2002. Related Stories Telehealth mi.