Kinematic analysis of upper limbs in wheelchair rugby athletes: an observational study

Abstract

Introduction: Wheelchair Rugby (WR) is a Paralympic sport that has been analysed for the interest of researchers. In the biomechanical aspect, an important point for the debate is the movement of propulsion in the wheelchair. However, this theme is still little explored. Objective: The aim of this study was to identify the behavior of upper limbs of WR athletes during a task of wheelchair propulsion and functional shoulder profile. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 19 professional WR athletes. A wheelchair propulsion task for two-stage analysis during the 20m maximum speed test. By two-dimensional videometrics, angular variables related to upper limbs were studied, besides the contact and impulsion angles in the wheelchair. The function of the shoulder was assessed by completing the questionnaire Wheelchair Users Shoulder Pain Index (WUSPI). Statistical analysis sociodemographic data and characterization of the sample was done with descriptive statistics with a central tendency (arithmetic mean) and dispersion (standard deviation) extraction. Shapiro-Wilk tested a sample analysis, after correlations were verified by Spearman correlation coefficient (rho) and Pearson correlation coefficient (r), with significance level of p ≤ 0.05. The SPSS 20.0 software for Windows was used in all analyzes. Kinematic analyzes were performed in Kinovea 8.23 software. Results: Athletes presented similar kinematic behavior during a wheelchair propulsion: impulse angle (89.7 ° ± 18.9), initial impulse (31 ° ± 10.4), final impulse (66 ° ± 9.6 ), Angle of contact (97.1 ° ± 3.8), elbow flexion (94.2 ° ± 13.3), shoulder extension (66.6 ° ± 10.6), maximum speed test (7.7 ° ± 2.3) and propulsion cycles (16.1 ± 1.4). We identify significant correlation between Functional Classification (FC) and maximum speed test (rho = -0.70, p <0.05) and between the time of practice of RCR with maximum speed test (rho = 0.54, p <0, 05). Conclusion: Regarding shoulder function, the mean score of the WUSPI questionnaire was low (17.8 / 150). .WR athletes presented similar kinematic behavior in variables most, presenting a pattern with few variations. However, we observed some athletes had better performance in speed test, especially the athletes with a longer practice time of WR and higher FC.