Establishing the reliability of a novel battery of range of motion tests to enable evidence-based classification in Para Swimming

Nicholson, Vaughan; Spathis, Jemima; Hogarth, Luke; Connick, Mark J.; Beckman, Emma; Tweedy, Sean M.; Payton, Carl J.; Burkett, Brendan

doi:10.1016/j.ptsp.2018.04.021

Cited by 19 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 32 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Studies in Para swimming have identified objective measures of impairment and established their relationship with swimming performance, 4,6‐8 established the impact of eligible types of impairment on sport‐specific measures of swimming performance to guide classification test protocols, 9‐11 and established the impact of impairment on swimming performance to guide revisions in classification structures 12,13 . However, these cross‐sectional studies do not provide an understanding on how measures of impairment, determinants of swimming performance, or the impairment‐performance relationship vary at different stages of athletic development.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling the age‐related trajectory of performance in Para swimmers with physical, vision and intellectual impairment

Hogarth

Nicholson

Payton

et al. 2021

Scandinavian Med Sci Sports

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study is the first to provide information on the age‐related trajectories of performance in Para swimmers with physical, vision and intellectual impairment. Race times from long‐course swim meets between 2009 and 2019 were obtained for Para swimmers with an eligible impairment. A subset of 10 661 times from 411 Para swimmers were included in linear mixed effects modelling to establish the relationship between age and performance expressed relative to personal best time and world record time. The main findings were: (a) age has the most noticeable influence on performance between the ages of 12‐20 years before performances stabilize and peak in the early to late twenties, (b) women have faster times relative to personal best and world record time than men during early adolescence and their performances stabilize, peak and decline at younger ages, and (c) Para swimmers from different sport classes show varying age‐related trajectories in performance after maturation and when training‐related factors are more likely to explain competitive swim performance. The results of this study can guide talent identification and development of Para swimmers at various stages of their career and help to inform decision‐making on the allocation of sport class and sport class status in Para swimming classification.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling the age‐related trajectory of performance in Para swimmers with physical, vision and intellectual impairment

Hogarth

Nicholson

Payton

et al. 2021

Scandinavian Med Sci Sports

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For these swimmers, it is possible that impairments in motor coordination or range of movement predispose them to increased form drag or limits their ability to minimise the disturbance of the water during the swim stroke. 24,25 The combination of objective measures of propulsion and drag may better explain the variance in swim performance for Para swimmers with hypertonia and impaired muscle power.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maximal Fully Tethered Swim Performance in Para Swimmers With Physical Impairment

Hogarth¹,

Burkett²,

Vliet³

et al. 2020

International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The assessment of swimming propulsion should be a cornerstone of Paralympic swimming classification. However, current methods do not objectively account for this component. Purpose: To evaluate the swimming propulsion of swimmers with and without physical impairment using a 30-second maximal fully tethered freestyle swim test. Methods: Tethered forces were recorded during maximal fully tethered swimming in 80 competitive swimmers with (n = 70) and without (n = 10) physical impairment. The relationships between absolute and normalized tether forces and maximal freestyle swim speed were established using general additive models. Results: Para swimmers with physical impairment had lower absolute and normalized tether forces than able-bodied swimmers, and there were moderate positive correlations found between tether forces and sport class (τ = .52–.55, P < .001). There was a nonlinear relationship between tether force and maximal freestyle swim speed in the participant cohort (adjusted R2 = .78–.80, P < .001). Para swimmers with limb deficiency showed stronger relationships between tether force and maximal freestyle swim speed (adjusted R2 = .78–.82, P < .001) than did Para swimmers with hypertonia (adjusted R2 = .54–.73, P < .001) and impaired muscle power (adjusted R2 = .61–.70, P < .001). Conclusions: Physical impairments affect Para swimmers’ tether forces during maximal fully tethered freestyle swimming, explaining a significant proportion of their activity limitation. It is recommended that maximal fully tethered swimming be included in Paralympic swimming classification as an objective assessment of swimming propulsion.

show abstract

“…Payton et al [ 70 ] found higher active and passive drag in para-swimmers with central motor and neuromuscular impairments when compared to able-bodied swimmers. Impairments in motor coordination or ROM predispose athletes to increased form drag, with para-swimmers exhibiting significantly reduced ROM compared to their able-bodied peers [ 71 ]. Unique head positions and postures may also affect the streamline position and thus increase form drag.…”

Section: Horizontalmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Can Biomechanics Improve Physical Preparation and Performance in Paralympic Athletes? A Narrative Review

Fletcher

Gallinger²,

François

2021

Sports

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent research in Paralympic biomechanics has offered opportunities for coaches, athletes, and sports practitioners to optimize training and performance, and recent systematic reviews have served to summarize the state of the evidence connecting biomechanics to Paralympic performance. This narrative review serves to provide a comprehensive and critical evaluation of the evidence related to biomechanics and Paralympic performance published since 2016. The main themes within this review focus on sport-specific body posture: the standing, sitting, and horizontal positions of current summer Paralympic sports. For standing sports, sprint and jump mechanics were assessed in athletes with cerebral palsy and in lower-limb amputee athletes using running-specific prostheses. Our findings suggest that running and jumping-specific prostheses should be ‘tuned’ to each athlete depending on specific event demands to optimize performance. Standing sports were also inclusive to athletes with visual impairments. Sitting sports comprise of athletes performing on a bike, in a wheelchair (WC), or in a boat. WC configuration is deemed an important consideration for injury prevention, mobility, and performance. Other sitting sports like hand-cycling, rowing, and canoeing/kayaking should focus on specific sitting positions (e.g., arm-crank position, grip, or seat configuration) and ways to reduce aero/hydrodynamic drag. Para-swimming practitioners should consider athlete-specific impairments, including asymmetrical anthropometrics, on the swim-start and free-swim velocities, with special considerations for drag factors. Taken together, we provide practitioners working in Paralympic sport with specific considerations on disability and event-specific training modalities and equipment configurations to optimize performance from a biomechanical perspective.

show abstract

Establishing the reliability of a novel battery of range of motion tests to enable evidence-based classification in Para Swimming

Abstract: The large majority of ROM tests included in this novel battery were reliable both within and between examiners in non-disabled participants. The tests were found to differentiate between non-disabled participants and Para swimmers with hypertonia or impaired muscle power.

Cited by 19 publications

References 32 publications

Modelling the age‐related trajectory of performance in Para swimmers with physical, vision and intellectual impairment

Modelling the age‐related trajectory of performance in Para swimmers with physical, vision and intellectual impairment

Maximal Fully Tethered Swim Performance in Para Swimmers With Physical Impairment

How Can Biomechanics Improve Physical Preparation and Performance in Paralympic Athletes? A Narrative Review

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About