Metabolic, kinematic and coordinative behavior of a para swimmer with cerebral palsy

Abstract

BACKGROUND: It has been increasingly necessary to assess and monitor the physiological and biomechanics variables of para swimmers to enlarge the current knowledge on how different impairments limit swimming performance and explain each competition class variability in metabolic and technical terms.

AIM: To characterize the front crawl metabolic, kinematic, and coordination behaviors of a trained para swimmer subjected to an incremental protocol.

METHOD: A 44-year-old male, with moderate right side hemiparesis of the body, performed a 200-m front crawl at 5 incrementally paces until exhaustion (0.05 m/s increases and 30-s intervals), with images from two cycles at each step recorded by two video cameras (one surface and one underwater). Kinematic and coordinative variables were collected. Lactate concentrations, heart rate, and blood pressure were also measured.

RESULTS: The para swimmer achieved the anaerobic threshold at  the fourth 200-m step, followed by an increase in heart rate and blood pressure. Speed and stroke frequency were higher and stroke length was lower along the 200-m steps. In contrast, a slight increase in stroke index and stability in intracyclic velocity variations occurred across intensity increments, and index of interlimb coordination was maintained as a superposition mode.

CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that the swimming intensity seems to influence the para swimmer metabolic, kinematic, and coordinative behavior, with sharper alterations after the point when AnT is achieved. In addition to having practical interest for adapted swimming, coaches should emphazise the physiological and biomechanical evaluation on training monitoring to better prescribe and improve the adapted swimming performance.