Paralympic Committee Research Articles

THE PREVENTION OF SUDDEN CARDIAC DEATH IN ATHLETES: CARDIOVASCULAR SCREENING PRACTICES IN UNITED STATES NATIONAL GOVERNING BODIES AND PARALYMPIC COMMITTEES

BackgroundCardiac screening in athletes has recently been a focus of investigation and debate among the sports medicine community. Athletic associations and organizations, including the International Olympic Committee, have issued recommendations...

Paralympic Medicine: The Road to Rio.

Over the past 10 years, our team has attended numerous Paralympic games and International Paralympic Committee (IPC)-sanctioned events where we have accumulated the largest data set to date from elite athletes with spinal cord injury (SCI). This empirical evidence has allowed us to address critical questions related to health and athletic performance in these incredibly medically complex individuals. Namely, does autonomic function influence performance? Can we account for this with the present sport classification? How can we prevent the doping practice of self-inducing life-threatening episodes of hypertension to improve performance (termed "boosting")? How does extremely high participation in routine upper-body wheelchair exercise impact cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease risk? Is it possible to improve the sport classification to level the playing field between athletes with and without autonomic dysfunction? Herein, we will narratively address these questions, and provide our perspective on future directions and recommendations moving forward. Our extensive clinical experience and comprehensive dataset suggest preserved autonomic function is critical for elite performance. We will explore how an easy-to-execute test may be able to predict which individuals are most likely to develop autonomic dysfunctions that may negatively affect their health and performance. We also will evaluate the possibility that a level playing field may be even more difficult to establish than once thought, considering the importance of not only voluntary movement to performance, but also autonomic function. Finally, we also will discuss new changes in screening guidelines at Rio to assess the occurrence of boosting, which is a banned practice by the IPC.

Reduced prosthetic stiffness lowers the metabolic cost of running for athletes with bilateral transtibial amputations.

Inspired by the springlike action of biological legs, running-specific prostheses are designed to enable athletes with lower-limb amputations to run. However, manufacturer's recommendations for prosthetic stiffness and height may not optimize running performance. Therefore, we investigated the effects of using different prosthetic configurations on the metabolic cost and biomechanics of running. Five athletes with bilateral transtibial amputations each performed 15 trials on a force-measuring treadmill at 2.5 or 3.0 m/s. Athletes ran using each of 3 different prosthetic models (Freedom Innovations Catapult FX6, Össur Flex-Run, and Ottobock 1E90 Sprinter) with 5 combinations of stiffness categories (manufacturer's recommended and ± 1) and heights (International Paralympic Committee's maximum competition height and ± 2 cm) while we measured metabolic rates and ground reaction forces. Overall, prosthetic stiffness [fixed effect (β) = 0.036; P = 0.008] but not height (P ≥ 0.089) affected the net metabolic cost of transport; less stiff prostheses reduced metabolic cost. While controlling for prosthetic stiffness (in kilonewtons per meter), using the Flex-Run (β = -0.139; P = 0.044) and 1E90 Sprinter prostheses (β = -0.176; P = 0.009) reduced net metabolic costs by 4.3-4.9% compared with using the Catapult prostheses. The metabolic cost of running improved when athletes used prosthetic configurations that decreased peak horizontal braking ground reaction forces (β = 2.786; P = 0.001), stride frequencies (β = 0.911; P < 0.001), and leg stiffness values (β = 0.053; P = 0.009). Remarkably, athletes did not maintain overall leg stiffness across prosthetic stiffness conditions. Rather, the in-series prosthetic stiffness governed overall leg stiffness. The metabolic cost of running in athletes with bilateral transtibial amputations is influenced by prosthetic model and stiffness but not height.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We measured the metabolic rates and biomechanics of five athletes with bilateral transtibial amputations while running with different prosthetic configurations. The metabolic cost of running for these athletes is minimized by using an optimal prosthetic model and reducing prosthetic stiffness. The metabolic cost of running was independent of prosthetic height, suggesting that longer legs are not advantageous for distance running. Moreover, the in-series prosthetic stiffness governs the leg stiffness of athletes with bilateral leg amputations.

Changes in throwing sports rules: Implications about the performance of Paralympic athletes

The objective of this study was to identify statutory changes in throwing sports occurred in 2014 and how they interfere with the Brazilian athletes’ performance. The research is characterized as descriptive, documentary and quantitative. Rules were consulted in the archives from the International Paralympic Committee and the Brazilian Paralympic Committee as well as 177 results from competitions between 2013 and 2014. Student’s t-test (paired) was used during statistical analysis with a 5% significance level. Results show a significant difference in throwing competitors’ performance following the statutory changes. The functional classification F58 and F57 revealed a decrease in performance in 2014. Athletes with higher functional capabilities had worse performance compared to the results of those who are less functionally capable. The results of this investigation show that the changes in rules had direct consequences in results during the years analyzed, thus suggesting athletes have yet to assimilate and adapt to them.

A neo-institutionalist analysis of sport event leveraging strategies and tactics

This study provides a conceptual framework for understanding how leveraging tactics are developed by implementing agents and organisations responsible for a certain outcome for sport events. The framework, built on neo-institutional theory and implementation literature, was applied by examining youth sport policy (YSP) implementation and outcomes by leveraging the 2016 Lillehammer Winter Youth Olympic Games with the formulated objective to increase the engagement of young people in Norwegian organised sport. Planning and perceptions of the leveraging process were explored through 33 semi-structured interviews with policy formulators, implementing agents, and the policy target group. Technical details of implementation proved to be more time-consuming and difficult than the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports (NIF) and its partner organisations assumed. While the successful staging of the event itself was given priority, none of the stakeholder organisations involved in the YSP implementation prioritised its leverage. Opportunities for innovation on the street-level by the policy network were missed resulting in the reproduction of existing practices within the Norwegian sports structure.

The cyborgification of paralympic sport

Depuis le debut du siecle, le mouvement paralympique a acquis un profil grand public. Nous allons faire valoir, qu’il resulte directement de l’attention mediatique portee aux nouvelles technologies de la prothetique qui ont contribue a creer une legion de corps cyborg qui se manifeste a l’image du supermarche sportif contemporain. Cet article souligne le developpement d’une ideologie technocentrique qui a ete adoptee dans le mouvement paralympique. En adoptant cette ideologie, le Comite international paralympique (IPC) a commence a celebrer la cyborgification des organes paralympiques. En fin de compte, cet article se demande si les progres de la technologie habilitent actuellement tous les athletes handicapes ou simplement ceux qui ont le potentiel d’etre cyborgs.

Examination of Reaction Times of Elite Physically Disabled Badminton Players

The aim of this study was to determine the reaction times of physically disabled International badminton players, and to analyze the effects of badminton on their reaction times. The study was based on physically handicapped badminton players from different countries (Turkey, France, Spain, Russia, Poland, Thailand, India, Bulgaria, and England) who attended 3rd International Enes-Cup Physically Disabled Badminton Tournament (experiment, n=39, 15 females-24 males), and physically handicapped individuals who do not deal with any sports (control, n=21, 9 females-12 males), totally 60 participants. Forming the research group, the players were divided into two groups according to the disability classification of the International Paralympic Committee, SL-3, SL-4, SU-5 (playing on foot, n=23), and WH-1, WH-2 (playing on wheelchairs, n=12). At the end of the study, it was determined that there was a statistically significant difference in between the visual-audial reaction times of the male players compared to male control group, and in between visual reaction times of the female players compared to female control group (p<0.05). As a conclusion, it was detected that the reaction times of both male and female players were lower (better) than the control group.

"A More Equitable Society": The Politics of Global Fairness in Paralympic Sport.

The Paralympic Movement explicitly sets out to create a more equitable society and promote participation for all and fairness in disability sport. This is primarily achieved through the use of a range of interventions with less attention given to how economic factors may hinder access and achievement in Paralympic sport. We investigated how country-level economic variables influence the level of participation and achievement in the 2015 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics Championships held in Doha. We used multiple regression analysis to show how levels of participation and achievement in the Championships were significantly determined by economic factors independent of population size.Our data show that in spite of the ideals of inclusion and fairness within the Paralympic Movement and the considerable effort expended on the use of technologies to achieve this, economic factors continue to exert a statistically significant influence on both the level of participation and achievement of Paralympic athletes. LMICs participate at lower levels and achieve fewer medals when compared to HICs. These differences are particularly marked in events that have a high cost of participation. Our findings raise questions regarding the use of current technologies and the level to which they are able to truly disrupt the politics of global inequality in sport.

Analysis of 50 m Backstroke Class S4 Disabled Swimmers Race Parameters

The aim of the article – to determine and compare S4 disabled swimmers 50 m backstroke race parameters and tactic of Lithuanian Disabled Swimming Championships winner and World Disabled swimming Championships finalists. The results of 2013 Lithuanian Disabled Swimming Championships 50 m backstroke winner were recorded by hand stopwatches. The race distance was divided into parts (15 m for start, swimming part, 5 m for finish). The winner’s speed (m/s), the average length of strokes (cycles/minute) and the average stroke length (m) were calculated, as well as the means of same data of the finalists and winners of 2010 and 2013 World Disabled Swimming Championships. 2010 and 2013 World Disabled Swimming Championships (at 50 m swimming pool) data on different race parts and the number of cycles of 50 m finalists were taken from the International Paralympic Committee protocols. The results of the research showed that 2010 Lithuanian Disabled Swimming Championships 50 m backstroke winner started the race slowly and swam the second 25 m part at an increasing speed, thus applying the slow start and fast finish tactic. Most 2010 World Disabled Swimming Championships 50 m backstroke finalists applied the fast start tactic. 2013 World Disabled Swimming Championships 50 m backstroke finalists applied the steady swimming speed tactic and swam the last 5 finish meters faster than the finalists of 2010 World Disabled Swimming Championships. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.mech.22.5.12743

‘I’m not an activist’: an exploratory investigation into retired British Paralympic athletes’ views on the relationship between the Paralympic games and disability equality in the United Kingdom

One claim of the UK Government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport is that the London 2012 Paralympic Games ‘improved attitudes to disability and provided new opportunities for disabled people to participate in society’. In addition, the International Paralympic Committee’s strategic plan suggests that the Paralympic Games is a vehicle for achieving ‘a more equitable society’. The aim of this study was to examine the reflections of a group of retired British Paralympic athletes on the relationship between the Paralympic Games and disability equality in the United Kingdom. Narrative interviews were conducted with five male retired British Paralympians and one female retired British Paralympian who had participated in a total of 22 Summer Paralympic Games events. I will argue that some Paralympic athletes who are not obvious ‘activists’ can still contribute to equality for disabled people.

Building sport policy’s legitimacy in Norway and New Zealand

Governing state-funded sport is tenuous because of the need to maintain legitimacy and support from political authorisers, stakeholders and network partners/members. The purpose of this paper is to compare/contrast how central sport agencies in Norway and New Zealand create, build or sustain legitimacy through their accountability regimes. More particularly, this comparison distinguishes between input and output sources of legitimacy, where the former is associated with democratic processes (e.g., electoral procedures and public consultation), and the latter is linked with results and demonstrable benefits. While the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports (NIF) draws legitimacy from its representative membership structures and status as a social movement, Sport New Zealand claims legitimacy on the basis of achieving targets and outputs. In both cases there are emerging pressures to recast input–output legitimating narratives, suggesting their ‘depleteability’ over time. These shifts are discussed in relation to their influence on policy reforms within environments of accountability that are fluid and incomplete.

The process of the institutionalization of sport for individuals with disabilities in Brazil: a federal legislative analysis

The scope of this study was to analyze the legal norms that have underpinned the alignment of organizational structures in the area of sports directed to individuals with disabilities in Brazil. The theoretical and methodological benchmark of the New Cultural History was based on the analysis of legal documents, as well as oral sources, which consist of three interviews with athletes who have experienced the period before the creation of the Brazilian Paralympic Committee. These sources were subjected to the technique of document analysis. The study has shown that the process of the institutionalization of sport for people with disabilities in Brazil was marked by a slow pace of consolidation, which directly influenced the actions of sports entities and the athletes' performance in competitions. With the creation of the Brazilian Paralympic Committee in 2005, the actions were centralized and a new Brazilwide structure was established. Since the second half of the 1990s, Brazilian Paralympic sport has made significant advances and reaped results in the Paralympic Games. The expectation is that this version of history will foster further studies and also preserve the sporting memory of the country that is hosting the Paralympic Games in 2016.

The fiddle of using the Paralympic Games as a vehicle for expanding [dis]ability sport participation

In this paper, we highlight the need to explore the excessive significance given to the Paralympic Games as a vehicle for the encouragement of participation of people with a disability within sport. The media spectacle around the games that the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has worked tirelessly to develop has become, for policy-makers and the public alike, a sufficient outlet for disability sport provision. The honourable goals of the IPC articulated through the ethos of Paralympism have been assumed to be valid for all people with a disability, yet in terms of widening participation, their utility is limited. This paper first illuminates the relationship between the International Olympic Committee and the IPC before we turn our attention to the ethos of Paralympism. Highlighting the necessity for ‘sport for all’, we use a human rights lens, aided by a capabilities approach to facilitate better ways to educate the public about the need for equality of access to sporting participation opportunities.

Leveraging the London 2012 Paralympic Games

The International Paralympic Committee, U.K. Government, and the Organizing Committee for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games all contended that the London 2012 Paralympic Games would positively impact the lives of disabled people in the United Kingdom, particularly with regard to changing nondisabled attitudes toward disability. All three have claimed partial success during the course of the 4-year period (Olympiad) separating the London and Rio Paralympic Games. However, this is at odds with the findings of Disabled People’s Organizations (DPOs) and the experiences of disabled individuals. This article considers the claims of both sides against a backdrop of public policies that are targeting large-scale benefit cuts, the media coverage of which actually appears to be hardening attitudes toward anyone on benefits and negating any positive impacts from the Games themselves. It argues that the continued predominance of “ableist” perspectives on disability underpins many of the challenges faced by disabled people. The article adopts a historical perspective on the development of legacy-based foundations upon which the disability sport and Paralympic movements originated. It contends that the gradual move toward an elite “Olympic” sports model of competition has actually served to undermine these foundations.

Cardiac screening practices among United States National Governing Bodies and Paralympic Committees

Cardiac screening practices among United States National Governing Bodies and Paralympic Committees

Public Diplomacy and the International Paralympic Committee: Reconciling the Roles of Disability Advocate and Sports Regulator

Whilst the link between international diplomacy and the Olympic movement has been the subject of extensive academic and journalistic enquiry, the experience of diplomatic discourse relating to the relatively youthful Paralympic movement has received little attention. It occurs not just in the context of state diplomacy, where for example the Paralympic Games may provide a conduit for the pursuit of specific policy objectives, but also in relation to the engagement of the International Paralympic Committee [IPC] as an evolving non-state actor in the diplomatic process. The idea of the IPC as an advocacy body engaged through public diplomacy in promoting disability rights needs exploration as an element of the contemporary politics of disability. This analysis considers the relationship between the activities of the IPC and wider lobbying by disabled people’s organisations as a means of leveraging change in domestic and international policy toward disability. In relation to the global development agenda, it also assesses IPC responses to the gulf in resourcing for para-sport as well as related health and education provision between high- and low-resource regions. It considers the response of the organisation from the perspective of public diplomacy and locates that response within the wider diplomacy of development.

Reframing Impairment? Continuity and Change in Media Representations of Disability Through the Paralympic Games

This study, which examines key features of contemporary media representations of disabled athletes in the context of the Paralympic Games, engages with established literature on representations of disability to critically interpret recent trends in journalistic inquiry. The analysis of media coverage of the 2012 and 2014 Paralympic Games identifies salient themes concerning the representation of disability. This, along with an investigation of documentary evidence concerning attempts by key stakeholders including the International Paralympic Committee to influence the nature of representation, contributes to an interrogation of the disability narrative emerging from the Paralympic Games and a consideration of the extent to which media coverage has shifted significantly from previous representations of disability.

Needs and Strengths of Australian Para-Athletes: Identifying Their Subjective Psychological, Social, and Physical Health and Well-Being

The well-being needs and strengths of para-athletes in a global and sport-specific context were investigated across subjective psychological, social, and physical health and well-being dimensions. Data were drawn from (a) semistructured interviews with Australian para-athletes (n = 23), (b) a focus group with the Australian Paralympic Committee (n = 9), and (c) a confirmatory para-athlete focus group (n = 8). The well-being needs and strengths of para-athletes differed across gender, sport, level of competition, and nature of impairment. Well-being needs were an interaction between physical pain, emotional regulation, lacking purpose outside of sport, and a lack of self-acceptance, especially for athletes with acquired impairments. Well-being strengths were perceived to increase as athletes increased their level of competition, and included personal growth, optimism, strong social support networks, and contributing to multiple communities. The importance of well-being as a multidimensional concept within the global and sport-specific context for para-athletes is discussed.

Risk of Injuries in Paralympic Track and Field Differs by Impairment and Event Discipline

Background: The incidence rates (IRs) and factors associated with injuries in the sport of Paralympic athletics (track and field) have not been comprehensively and prospectively studied. Purpose: To determine injury IRs, characteristics of injuries, and associated factors in the sport of athletics at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2. Methods: A total of 977 athletes competing in the sport of athletics were followed over a total 10-day competition period of the Paralympic Games. Daily injury data were obtained via 2 databases: (1) a custom-built, web-based injury and illness surveillance system (WEB-IISS), maintained by team medical personnel; and (2) the organizing committee database, maintained by medical providers in the medical stations operated by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Athlete impairment and event discipline were obtained via the International Paralympic Committee athlete database. IRs (injuries per 1000 athlete-days) by impairment, event discipline, sex, and age were examined. Results: The overall IR was 22.1 injuries per 1000 athlete-days (95% CI, 19.5-24.7). In track disciplines, ambulant athletes with cerebral palsy experienced a lower incidence of injuries (IR, 10.2; 95% CI, 4.2-16.2) when compared with ambulant athletes from other impairment categories. Athletes in seated throwing experienced a higher incidence of injuries (IR, 23.7; 95% CI, 17.5-30.0) when compared with athletes in wheelchair racing (IR, 10.6; 95% CI, 5.5-15.6). In both track and field disciplines, the majority of injuries did not result in time loss from competition or training. Ambulant athletes experienced the greatest proportion of injuries to the thigh (16.4% of all injuries; IR, 4.0), observed predominantly in track athletes. Wheelchair or seated athletes experienced the greatest proportion of injuries to the shoulder/clavicle (19.3% of all injuries; IR, 3.4), observed predominantly in field athletes. Conclusion: This is the first prospective cohort study examining injury IRs and associated factors in the sport of athletics at the Paralympic Games. Injury patterns were specific to the event discipline and athlete impairment. The majority of injuries occurred to the thigh (ambulant athletes) or shoulder/clavicle (wheelchair or seated athletes) and did not result in time loss.

Freestyle race pacing strategies (400 m) of elite able-bodied swimmers and swimmers with disability at major international championships

ABSTRACTFreestyle race pacing strategies (400 m) were compared between elite able-bodied swimmers and those with minimal physical (International Paralympic Committee S10 classification) and visual disabilities (International Paralympic Committee S13 classification). Data comprised 50-m lap splits and overall race times from 1176 400-m freestyle swims from World Championships, European Championships and Olympic/Paralympic Games between 2006 and 2012. Five pacing strategies were identified across groups (even, fast start, negative, parabolic and parabolic fast start), with negative and even strategies the most commonly adopted. The negative pacing strategy produced the fastest race times for all groups except for female S13 swimmers where an even strategy was most effective. Able-bodied groups swam faster than their S10 and S13 counterparts, with no differences between S10 and S13 groups. The results suggest adoption of multiple pacing strategies across groups, and even where impairments are considered minimal they are still associated with performance detriments in comparison to their able-bodied counterparts. The findings have implications for the planning and implementation of training related to pacing strategies to ensure optimal swimmer preparation for competition. Analogous performance levels in S10 and S13 swimmers also suggest a case for integrated competition of these classifications in 400-m freestyle swimming.