Heat-related issues and practical applications for Paralympic athletes at Tokyo 2020

Abstract

International sporting competitions, including the Paralympic Games, are increasingly being held in hot and/or humid environmental conditions. Thus, a greater emphasis is being placed on preparing athletes for the potentially challenging environmental conditions of the host cities, such as the upcoming Games in Tokyo in 2020. However, evidence-based practices are limited for the impairment groups that are eligible to compete in Paralympic sport. This review aims to provide an overview of heat-related issues for Paralympic athletes alongside current recommendations to reduce thermal strain and technological advancements in the lead up to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. When competing in challenging environmental conditions, a number of factors may contribute to an athlete's predisposition to heightened thermal strain. These include the characteristics of the sport itself (type, intensity, duration, modality, and environmental conditions), the complexity and severity of the impairment and classification of the athlete. For heat vulnerable Paralympic athletes, strategies such as the implementation of cooling methods and heat acclimation can be used to combat the increase in heat strain. At an organizational level, regulations and specific heat policies should be considered for several Paralympic sports. Both the utilization of individual strategies and specific heat health policies should be employed to ensure that Paralympics athletes' health and sporting performance are not negatively affected during the competition in the heat at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

Heat acclimation attenuates the increased sensations of fatigue reported during acute exercise-heat stress

“…An understanding of the perceptual responses and subsequent time-course for adaptations is important for those prescribing HA, allowing perceived fatigue to be somewhat predicted and potentially mitigated. As such, our research supports anecdotal evidence of increased tiredness and lethargy following exercise-heat stress [10], which is important to consider when prescribing HA, such as that for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games [1,20]. The cumulative effect of combined stressors and progressive physiological strain (e.g.…”

Heat alleviation strategies for athletic performance: A review and practitioner guidelines

“…This review should direct practitioners preparing non-disabled individuals for competition in heat stress to the optimal methods to attenuate the heat-induced performance decrements and to protect athlete health. Whilst many thermophysiology principles are shared, we direct the reader to literature describing techniques to alleviate heat strain in para-athletes, given critical and pertinent nuances should be considered from health and performance perspectives in this cohort [4][5][6][7].…”

Effects of Pre-cooling and Per-cooling on Neural, Physiological, and Functional Responses in Active Young Girls

“…Besides, it was shown that the decrease in the heart rate was significant in the pre-cooling and per-cooling groups compared to the control group. Pre-cooling causes blood vessels to constrict and reduce superficial blood flow, thereby lowering body temperature (19). Vascular contractions occur when the cold sends stimuli to adrenergic heat receptors in the skin, thus stimulating sympathetic fibers and creating stimulus reflex (20).…”

“…Besides, Zeus Analyzer 9.9 was used to measure body composition and fat percentage (Table 1) (18). A Beurer FT-70 digital thermometer, polar-FT60 heart rate monitoring, Microlife blood pressure monitoring, and ELISA technique were used to measure the core body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, dopamine, cortisol, and lactate dehydrogenase, respectively (18,19). Subsequently, written and oral consent was obtained from the subjects.…”