Current perspectives on profiling and enhancing wheelchair court-sport performance

Subsequently, current practice is often based on theory adapted from able-bodied guidelines, with a heavy reliance on anecdotal evidence and practitioner experience. Many principles of training prescription and performance monitoring in wheelchair athletes are directly transferable from able-bodied practice, including the periodisation and tapering of athlete loads around competition. Yet, a consideration for the physiological consequences of an athlete’s impairment and the interface between the athlete and their equipment are vital when targeting interventions to optimise in-competition performance.

Methods

Specifically, the focus was on i) laboratory and field based assessments of physical capacity related to court-sport performance; ii) techniques and technologies available for profiling on-court physical performance, and iii) the evidence base for targeted interventions aimed at enhancing physical performance, including training prescription, equipment innovations and thermoregulation.

Main findings and applications

• An understanding of the individual wheelchair athlete is vital, including a full medical diagnosis of physical impairment, screening of current functional movement patterns and previous injury and illness history.
• Profiling protocols must show good reliability and demonstrate specificity to the movement or energetic demands of competition. The battery of protocols available to practitioners will be dependent on available resource (lab vs. field assessments), the experience of athletes being profiled (novice vs. experienced wheelchair user) and contact time available with athletes.
• A range of technologies are available for examining the movement and physiological demands of performance, including heart rate monitoring, motion capture, indoor tracking systems and inertial movement units. However, the limitations of each technique must be acknowledged and considered when supporting coaches in the training and competition environment.
• A multi-disciplinary approach to the preparation and assessment of interventions aimed at enhancing physical performance is essential. Interventions may increase one element of performance (linear speed) but be detrimental to other parameters of athlete health or performance.

Reference

Paulson, T. and Goosey-Tolfrey, V. (2016). Current perspectives on profiling and enhancing wheelchair court-sport performance. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance. DOI: 10.1123/ijspp.2016-0231