Development of exercise equipment in limited spaces for people with disabilities using wheelchairs

Thailand had approximately two million registered disabled people accounted for 3% of all Thai
population. The largest number of disabled types was people with physical and mobility impairments. Due
to the long-time stationary without exercise, more than half of wheelchair users have faced with NCDs such
as hypertension and diabetes. Exercise, consequently, plays a crucial role in disabled’s health promotion to
reduce their disease problems. By the Google Form interview with 18 wheelchair users along with literature
review, results were used to design the function and structure of the exercise equipment in a limited space.
Aerobic exercise involves in the improvement of 10%-20% VO2max, the maximum rate of oxygen
consumption measured during incremental exercise. Additionally, due to excessive manufacture, 1.5 million
bicycles end up discarded every year. Aerobic exercise equipment, therefore, is designed in FreeCAD
program according to target group’s suitability and the use of various bicycles’ components. Handcycling is
combined with passive leg cycling which made from bicycle crank and chain for the linkage between arms
and legs. In this exercise, exerting rotation from only arms result in the legs which move concurrently.
Furthermore, the handlebar is used for pulling exercise. The body part of exercise equipment is made from
steel and bicycle frame. Moreover, the equipment is designed to contain a height adjusting function which
can modify depending on users’ propriety. In order that, we plan to build and develop together with
delegated wheelchair user shortly.
Keywords: exercise equipment, wheelchair disability, limited space exercise