According to a study done in November 2018 by the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, people who have poor cardiovascular fitness are at a 73% greater risk of death from any source, and twice as more likely to die of heart disease and any type of cancer. For people who are confined to wheelchairs due to a lower spinal cord or lumbar injury, maintaining good cardiovascular fitness can be more difficult and harder to measure, since they cannot always do the same exercises as a person not confined to a wheelchair. This leaves people physically confined to wheelchairs that have full mobility in their arms at an unnecessarily high risk of death and heart disease. Our goal is to create a device that allows people with lower spinal cord or lumbar injuries confined to wheelchairs, but still with mobility in the arms and upper body, to exercise their cardiovascular system by raising their heart rate, without having to move their wheelchair.
We are a group of high schoolers taking a Senior Research and Development class at Niskayuna High School. To learn more about us please visit our personal bios.