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A Kenosha engineering firm says it has developed a new wheelchair aimed at reducing shoulder and wrist injuries that come from using a regular wheelchair, and that's also faster and better at climbing.

Procubed LLC hopes to begin selling the new wheelchair late this year starting with Veterans Affairs facilities. The company says it's working with physical therapists and veterans at the Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Milwaukee, the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, in Bethesda, Md., and the Human Engineering and Research Laboratories at University of Pittsburgh.

Nearly 3 million people in the United States use manual wheelchairs for daily mobility. Many of them will experience pain and injury in their shoulders, wrists and hands, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Gripping and pushing the wheels results in repetitive use injuries. With the Procubed wheelchair, the user pushes and pulls large levers in a back-and-forth motion that drives the wheels. It's a more efficient movement that doesn't strain the user like a regular wheelchair does, according to Jim Maerzke, company president.

The controls are set up so that anyone, including many quadriplegics, can use them.

People affected by levels of paralysis, including quadriplegia, can have use of their arms but little or no gripping capability. The Procubed wheelchair addresses that problem because users don't have to grip the wheel rims for motion and braking.

"It's very user friendly and works with a wide range of disabilities," Maerzke said.

Four years in the making

The wheelchair has been in development about four years and has gone through multiple iterations. University of Wisconsin Extension and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. recently awarded Procubed a $25,000 Ideadvance grant to help commercialize the technology.

The business plan is to sell the wheelchairs to Veterans Affairs, in limited quantities at first, and then turn to a manufacturer for mass production.

"The (push-and-pull) drive itself is extremely efficient, so we would like to apply it to other products besides wheelchairs. You could have a bicycle that has about 20% more power compared to pedaling," Maerzke said.

There are other lever-drive wheelchairs on the market. Users say some of them are very maneuverable, and the braking is safer, easier and stronger than a conventional wheelchair.

The idea behind Procubed's drive system came from an engineering class at University of Wisconsin-Parkside, where Maerzke was a student in the 1980s.

In recent years, he decided to take his idea and apply it to a wheelchair.

"That's how we got to where we are today. We are right on the edge of doing clinical trials, working with disabled veterans," Maerzke said.

Repetitive use injuries

Experienced wheelchair users say they want something that doesn't result in repetitive use injuries.

"Pushing down on wheelchair rims is really hard on your shoulders and wrists. I experience pain every day now," said Bruce Goeser, a wheelchair user from Mauston who has helped test the Procubed prototypes.

The new wheelchair can climb 10-degree slopes, steeper than a regular ramp, without slipping backward. It's supposed to be faster than a conventional wheelchair, and it has a reverse gear that can be used with the same push-and-pull drive motion.

Maerzke has spent more than 25 years in the engineering field, working for companies such as Baxter International and Bristol Myers-Squibb. He has a bachelor's degree in engineering from UW-Parkside and a master's in business administration from Argosy University, which has a campus in Schaumburg, Ill.

His wife, Teresa Maerzke, is vice president of business development at the company and has a background in medical product manufacturing.

The firm designs and builds machines used in the medical, automotive and other industries.

"We do a lot of other work in order to get the money to put into this project," Jim Maerzke said.