Sports science: Tools and translation for para-athletes

Sports scientists employ a variety of validated tools for the identification of numerous physiological and performance markers that can assist in the advancement of knowledge pertaining to athletic events, thus providing critical information to serve in improving competitiveness and reducing instances of injury. As the Paralympic Games continue to grow in depth and popularity, with more athletes competing in each subsequent Games alongside increased media coverage, tools for improving athletic performance need to be evaluated for their utility within the para-athlete population. The wheelchair marathon (WCM) is an important subset within the Paralympic program as this sport provides a high level of financial opportunities and media platform for top finishers that should be expected to expand exposure to and awareness of the sport, indirectly serving to influence sport entrance. While the foot race component of the marathon has been defined as a traditional endurance-type activity, leading to the generation of well-defined metabolic and exercise recommendations, the WCM, due to several factors, may differ from its counterpart. It is therefore integral to characterize the metabolic and physiological demands of the WCM in order to develop evidence-based guidelines to advance the training and nutritional strategies undertaken by these para-athletes. To do this, it is important to investigate the utility of commonly used sports science tools within the able-bodied population for their validity within the para-athlete population. This thesis aims to explore two sports science tools and discusses their potential utility for para-athletes who compete in the WCM. Specifically, core temperature response to chilled whole food ingestion, and recovery kinetics as measured by lactate responses, may provide useful information for the WCM, yet have not been explored in the para-athlete. We show that ingestion of a chilled whole food (potatoes), was effective at reducing core temperature in highly trained, able-bodied cyclists. These results implicate a potential opportunity to use chilled nutrition products in performance settings with para-athletes. Future studies need to explore this in para-athletes to understand the effects and the limitations from such a strategy. We also show that an elite, female WCMer experienced early (time=5 min.) maximal lactate concentration following an all-out 1-minute exercise bout and that her total lactate concentration after 60-minutes of inactivity was still elevated from baseline. More participants are needed to ascertain what these data mean in terms of the physiological demands of the WCM. Additionally, non-WCM controls are needed to distinguish the WCM from other wheelchair racing and arm cranking events (e.g., short distance track sprinters and hand cyclers).

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Nutritional Sciences

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2022

Author dc:creator

• Scaroni, Susannah

Contributors dc:contributor

• Burd, Nicholas A
• Khan, Naiman A
• Wilund, Kenneth E

• Para-athletes
• Sports Science
• Wheelchair Marathon

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2022 Susannah Scaroni

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/117832

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F117832