An interventional study of Adaptive Indoor Rowing Seat and Paddle Sport adaptive seating system in Spinal Cord Diseases, Spinal Cord Injuries and Neurodegenerative Disorders, sponsored by VA Office of Research and Development. Not yet recruiting at 2 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-07-24.
Sponsored by VA Office of Research and Development · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
Adaptive sports programs are integral components to combating Veteran isolation, promoting wellbeing and seeking to build teams, networks, communities. These activity-based communities are medicine free treatment systems enhancing Veterans' health from a holistic perspective. This approach to Veteran healthcare is critical as studies indicate Veterans not only have 56% higher perceived social isolation but are also 1.5x more susceptible to suicide than the general public. It is imperative to improve access to exercise and physical activity through adaptive sport or recreation. This proposal is going to focus on Adaptive Indoor Rowing for Veterans with limited or changing trunk stability (i.e. SCI/D, paralysis, paresis, etc.). Rowing is a unique full-body activity that increases cardiovascular demand and increases coordination and aerobic capacity through movement. This proposal aims to address critical gaps in adaptive rowing technology and provide Veterans with limited trunk stability access to full stroke adaptive rowing.
Significance to VA: Veterans with SCI/D experience limited access to physical activity due to insufficient adaptive equipment options. It is imperative to improve access to exercise and physical activity through the thoughtful design and development of adequate adaptive technologies that reduce barriers to participation. The current state of adaptive indoor rowing is ineffective at exercising the full body, which limits the improvement of cardiovascular health and neuromusculoskeletal coordination resulting in decreased benefits to Veterans and may discourage further motivation to participate. This proposal focuses on Adaptive Rowing for Veterans with limited trunk stability and specifically on the need for new adaptive seat options for indoor rowing
Innovation and Impact: Current adaptations for indoor rowing bypass the use of the legs and reduce participant range of motion, limiting the full-body exercise to an arms-only workout regardless of the user's ability. The proposed adaptive indoor rowing seat provides a full slide motion while also regulating trunk range of motion movements. A function that is currently unavailable in any current or past adaptive indoor rowing seat.
Specific Aims:
1) Optimize a new clinically viable adaptive indoor rowing seat for Veterans with limited trunk stability.
Subtask 1) Assess 1st prototype of Adaptive Indoor Rowing Seat (AIRS V1) with Veterans and clinicians specializing in SCI/D and collect feedback.
Subtask 2) Develop 2nd prototype of Adaptive Indoor Rowing Seat (AIRS V2) from Veteran and clinician feedback collected in Subtask 1.
Subtask 3) Test feasibility of 2nd prototype of Adaptive Indoor Rowing Seat (AIRS V2) with Veterans in Cleveland and collect feedback from Veterans and clinicians.
H1) The AIRS V2 will result in increased anterior/posterior trunk movement when compared to the discontinued Paddle Sport adaptive seating system while performing rowing.
H2) Rowing with the AIRS V2 will result in increased stroke length or ability to generate more power through their upper extremities when compared to the discontinued Paddle Sport adaptive seating system.
H3) Veterans will rate feeling more stable and comfortable rowing with the AIRS V2.
Subtask 4) Generate 3rd prototype (AIRS V3) from feedback on AIRS V2. The entirety of feedback collected, and data analyzed will result in the development of two AIRS V3 prototypes.
Methodology: Year one of this proposal will focus on Subtask 1 and 2. First, feedback on the design of AIRS V1 will be collected from Veterans with SCI/D and SCI/D Clinicians at the 2025 National Wheelchair Games being hosted in Minneapolis and the RECOVER and APT Center Veteran Engagement Panels. Feedback will also be obtained from study industry partners: Concept2 and US Rowing. The investigators will then design and fabricate AIRS V2 incorporating the Veterans with SCI/D, SCI/D clinicians, and industry feedback. In year 2, AIRS V2 will be shipped to the APT Center for human subject testing with Veterans with SCI/D. The hypotheses listed above will be tested to access whether AIRS V2 is more effective and preferred than the Paddle Sport adaptive seating system currently being used at the APT Center: Both sites will work together to use the data and feedback from the human subjects testing to guide any additional modifications needed for AIRS V3. In Year 3, the design team will build two AIRS V3s, shipping one to the APT Center, as well as disseminating any remaining findings.
Path to Translation/Implementation: Additionally, the overall experience and insights gained throughout this project will contribute to commercialization opportunities of AIRS V3. Throughout this proposal the investigators will strategize with study industry partners, Concept2 \& US Rowing, along with VA Technology Transfer Program to determine the best commercialization path for getting the AIRS V3 in the hands of Veterans.
2,025 studies on the registry are indexed under Spinal Cord Injuries; 537 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 15 is below the median of 24 across 1,633 interventional studies indexed under Spinal Cord Injuries.
Browse Spinal Cord Injuries studies →VA Office of Research and Development is the lead sponsor of 1,771 studies on the registry; 392 are open to participants now.
Of its 213 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 185 (87%) have results posted.
Compared within Spinal Cord Injuries, this study's primary condition as ClinicalTrials.gg classifies it; the registry's first condition term is Spinal Cord Diseases. The counts are of registry records indexed under each term, refreshed daily. How we classify →
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Non-ventilator dependent paralysis, such as:
Exclusion Criteria:
Veterans will be excluded if they have:
The (Adaptive Indoor Rowing Seat) AIRS V2 will be used within an established adaptive rowing protocol for Veterans with limited trunk strength and compared with the Paddle Sport adaptive seating system.
Device: Adaptive Indoor Rowing Seat
The (Adaptive Indoor Rowing Seat) AIRS V2 will be used within an established adaptive rowing protocol for Veterans with limited trunk strength and compared with the Paddle Sport adaptive seating system.
Device: Paddle Sport adaptive seating system
Light weight adjustable indoor rowing seat for Veterans with limited trunk stability.
Also known as: AIRS V2
On market comparator (discontinued) adaptive indoor rowing seat for individuals with limited trunk stability.
Trunk Movement
Changes in angular trunk position (degrees) will be captured during a self-selected, moderate pace for 2-5 minutes depending on their ability. They will complete 3 trials of rowing with at least 10 minutes of rest between trials on each seat.
Time frame: up to 4 weeks after enrollment
Rowing Stroke Length
Changes in stroke length (cm) will be captured during a self-selected, moderate pace for 2-5 minutes depending on their ability. They will complete 3 trials of rowing with at least 10 minutes of rest between trials on each seat.
Time frame: up to 4 weeks after enrollment
Power (Watts)
Changes in power generation (Watts) will be captured during a self-selected, moderate pace for 2-5 minutes depending on their ability. They will complete 3 trials of rowing with at least 10 minutes of rest between trials on each seat.
Time frame: up to 4 weeks after enrollment
Custom Usability Items
Questions study specific to the usability of the indoor rowing seats
Time frame: up to 4 weeks after enrollment
System Usability Score (SUS) [Brook (1996, 2013)]
Widely used measure to assess usability of any technological system. It is a questionnaire based approach that combines subjective ratings and objective metrics to provide a quantitative measure of usability.
Time frame: up to 4 weeks after enrollment
User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ) [(Laugwitz et al 2006, 2008)]
A quick and comprehensive assessment tool that allows users "in a very simple and immediate way to express feelings, impressions, and attitudes that arise when experiencing the product under investigation."
Time frame: up to 4 weeks after enrollment
Usability Metric for User Experience [(Finstad et al 2010)]
Usability experience survey
Time frame: up to 4 weeks after enrollment
Plan to share: No
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Start is estimated for Oct 2026; primary completion for Oct 2027, 11 months later.
Of 790 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Spinal Cord Injuries, half reached primary completion within 37 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 18 and three quarters within 65. This study's planned 11 months is below that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 839 studies reached it within 36 months; a quarter within 17 and three quarters within 64.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Jul 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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