Motor function is one of the aspects negatively affected in people suffer from spinal cord injury. Continuous and repetitive movement with wheelchairs could apply compressive and shearing stresses on the joints of the upper limb. Over time, this could lead them to the Repetitive movement disorders and overuse injuries that can cause a significant decrease in motor function. Spinal cord injured people use two synchronous and asynchronous strategies to move and transfer with their wheelchairs. The aim of the present study was to compare the motor function of spinal cord injured people during two synchronous and asynchronous wheelchair propulsion strategies.
For this purpose, 15 men with paraplegic spinal cord injury who had been injured for at least a year, were selected purposefully and availably. In order to measure the ability to change the direction and movement with the wheelchair the slalom test were used. The 20-meter speed test were performed to measure the wheelchair propulsion velocity. Participants performed the tests once using the synchronous strategy and once using the asynchronous wheelchair propulsion strategy.

The results of statistical analysis by paired sample t-test in spss software package version 24, indicated that there is a significant difference between the results of the slalom test using the synchronous strategy and that people get better results using this strategy. When the 20-meter speed test was performed at the preferred speed, no significant differences were observed between two strategies. But when performed at maximum speed, a significant difference was observed.
It can be concluded that the synchronous strategy is probably a suitable strategy to improve motor function in activities that require a change in direction or require maximum speed.