An investigation into anaerobic performance of wheelchair athletes

Abstract

The traditional methods for assessing muscle performance have been applied to the wheelchair athlete with some success. In wheelchair athletics, as in able-bodied athletics, there are a number of short races taxing the anaerobic capacity. Previous work from this laboratory described an anaerobic test specifically for wheelchair athletes. This essentially was a modification of the ‘Wingate test’ protocol, enabling a wheelchair athlete using his own wheelchair to work against a friction loaded flywheel over a 30 s period. The objectives of the present study were to use this wheelchair ergometer (WERG) to investigate (1) the week to week stability of power measurements, (2) the effects of varying the friction load and (3) the relationship between power measurements and sprint performance times.

The first experiment was concerned with the stability of peak power, mean power and maximum velocity measurements obtained from the WERG with a frictional load of 1·2 kg. Seven males each performed a maximal 30 s anaerobic test on three separate occasions over a five-week period with at least a one-week interval between successive measurements. An analysis of variance showed there was no significant difference between successive test sessions, indicating that the results were stable on a week to week basis. The second experiment investigated the changes that occur in peak and mean power output over a 30s WERG test when the frictional load was systematically varied. Six male subjects were used and the friction loads were varied from 1·4 to 2·4 kg. Both peak and mean power showed a linear increase as load increased. Finally the relations between peak power, mean power and sprint performance times over 100 m, 200 m and 400 m were examined. Significant negative correlations (p <001) were found between both peak and mean powers and all performance times.

This study has verified that the use of a WERG for anaerobic testing is reliable, that no clear practical optimum exists for mean or peak power outputs as a function of load, and that both peak and mean power are closely related to sprint performance times.

Keywords:

• Wheelchair athletes
• Disabled
• Anaerobic performance