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Characteristic MRI findings of shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints in wheelchair user

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A Correction to this article was published on 23 January 2021

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Abstract

Objective

Wheelchair users frequently utilize their upper extremities for moving around in their daily life. Therefore, it is likely they may develop conditions of overuse in their joints, which could affect their activity and daily life. The purpose of this study is to clarify the actual conditions of the joints of wheelchair users using MRI.

Material and methods

Twenty-five wheelchair users and twenty able-bodied control volunteers participated in this study. We scanned MRI images of their right and left shoulders, elbows, and wrists. Two radiologists interpreted the images and made diagnoses for each of the joints. The number of diseases for each joint was compared between wheelchair users and able-bodied volunteers.

Results

The number of supraspinatus tendon tears was higher in wheelchair users than controls in the right (Rt.) (P < 0.05), left (Lt.) (P < 0.05), and bilateral (Bil.) (P < 0.05) shoulders. The number of elbow LP lesions (Rt. (P < 0.01), Lt. (P < 0.01), and Bil. (P < 0.05)) and the number of elbow lateral epicondylitis cases (Rt. [P < 0.05] and Lt. [P < 0.05]) were also higher in wheelchair users than that of control volunteers. Additionally, the number of wrist TFCC injuries in wheelchair users (Rt. [P < 0.01], Lt. [P < 0.01], and Bil. [P < 0.01]) was more than that of control volunteers.

Conclusion

Our results suggest that there are several types of overuse injury in each joint. However, we hypothesize that these are not induced by driving wheelchairs, but instead by the “push up” movement characteristic for wheelchair users, according to the situations caused by each injury.

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Acknowledgments

We deeply thank Nobuaki Iwasaki in our institution, who gave us almost all the equipment and the opportunity to perform this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, 2-1-1 Amakubo, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8576, Japan

    Masafumi Sakai, Yukiyo Shimizu & Yoshikazu Okamoto

  2. Department of Orthopedics, Ibaraki Prefectural University, 4669-2 Oaza, Inashiki, Ibaraki, 300-0300, Japan

    Takahiro Mutsuzaki

  3. Department of Radiology, Ibaraki Prefectural University, 4669-2 Oaza, Inashiki, Ibaraki, 300-0300, Japan

    Katsuhiko Yatabe, Ichio Muraki & Kotaro Nakajima

Authors
  1. Masafumi Sakai
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  2. Takahiro Mutsuzaki
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  3. Yukiyo Shimizu
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  4. Yoshikazu Okamoto
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  5. Katsuhiko Yatabe
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  6. Ichio Muraki
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  7. Kotaro Nakajima
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yoshikazu Okamoto.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

IRB statement

Our study was approved by the Ethics Committee of this institution on 13 August 2018, with the approval number 837. The information disclosure text of this study was released on the home page of Ibaraki Prefectural University, and we provided veto by the Opt-out method.

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Sakai, M., Mutsuzaki, T., Shimizu, Y. et al. Characteristic MRI findings of shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints in wheelchair user. Skeletal Radiol 50, 171–178 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-020-03545-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-020-03545-2

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