The doctoral student who wants to reduce wheelchair-related repetitive strain injuries

Born in Yemen, raised in Egypt and educated in the US and now in Sweden as a PhD student at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Ibrahim Mohammed Ibrahim Hasan is a truly international research student and one who has chosen to devote his interest to a global problem: the shoulder strains that inevitably come with using a wheelchair. The project he is working on is now ready to start testing the methods on patients.

How did you end up at KTH as a research student?

“I wanted to get closer to Egypt, ha-ha! But after the years as a Fulbright Scholar at Arizona State University where I took my master's degree in mechanics and robotics, I wanted to continue researching and then preferably closer to my parents who live in Egypt. Sweden is much less flying hours away and is also much cooler than Arizona. But above all, I wanted to continue research in biomechanics, I had already developed a soft robotic suit that facilitates knee bending in people with motor disabilities in the lower extremities. The KTH Moveability research group announced a PhD position for a shoulder project that I became interested in and applied for. I was very happy when I was accepted among eighty applicants for the position, and I am very happy here after the two and a half years I have spent in Stockholm and at KTH.”

What problem is your PhD project about?

“In short: shoulder pain from overuse of wheelchairs. It is virtually inevitable that wheelchair users will develop wear and tear in their shoulders after a while. This impairs the experience of using a wheelchair and can also mean that you become more dependent on others and less inclined to use the aid, that is, less mobile. This project seeks to understand why and how these injuries occur, and what can be done about it. Shoulders are complicated structures and there is still no good solution to the problem, which is very holistic in nature and where there is a great need for knowledge.”

So how do you go about it?

“We work both experimentally and computationally. This involves measuring movements and muscle activation, but there are also other factors that need to be taken into account, such as muscle force. For this, we use computational methods that estimate the impact of muscle strength on the shoulders. We have spent a lot of time developing these models and now they are ready to be applied.”

What is the project's goal?

“Our goal is to increase the possibilities for people in wheelchairs to remain active for as long as possible without devastating shoulder pain. But we also aim to explore the possibilities of creating assistive devices that improve the wheelchair experience itself. Incorrect posture can create problems when sitting in the chair, and an assistive device that focuses on posture and reduces harmful strain can be part of the solution.”

Who would benefit most from the success of the project?

“Anyone with shoulders, you might say. The methods we are developing to measure shoulder loading can be applied to people who don't use wheelchairs. But people with spinal cord injuries would benefit greatly. Also people who use a wheelchair for other reasons, for example if they had to have an amputation or had another injury or illness that makes wheelchair use necessary.”

Which partners do you work with?

“We work with researchers at GIH , the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, who play a central role in the work of classifying disabilities in sport. We also collaborate with Aleris Rehab Station , which is a Nordic node for people with spinal cord injuries.”

What are your long-term plans?

“I plan to get my PhD in 2026 and would like to stay in academia. At the same time, I feel strongly about introducing this knowledge to society so that it benefits people in wheelchairs. Therefore, it could be a start-up or a collaboration with companies that want to develop solutions in this field.”

Ibrahim Mohammed Ibrahim Hasan's profile page at KTH: 
https://www.kth.se/profile/imihasan