Académique Documents
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2, 2008 51
1
Elite Athletes with Disabilities Unit, National Sports Institute of Malaysia & 2Faculty of
Sports Science and Recreation, University Technology MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia
Abstract
The article briefly discusses athletes with disabilities and how their condition can be matched
with suitable activities to allow them to participate in physical activity and sports. The article
also aims at assisting coaches who conduct training for people with disability to understand
their condition first, and then devise programmes that are appropriate for their condition.
Furthermore, it highlights the barriers and conditions that affect athletes with disabilities’
participation in sports, especially those related to the health, safety and medical
considerations that coaches should understand and manage carefully. The article offers
recommendations on how coaches should train athletes with disability.
* Corresponding author
Nagoor Meera Abdullah
Elite Athletes with Disabilities Unit
National Sports Institute of Malaysia
Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Faculty of Sports Science and Recreation,
University Technology MARA,
Shah Alam, Malaysia
E-mail: nameera_ab@yahoo.com.my
52 National Sports Institute of Malaysia
Sports for the persons with types of disabilities. For example, coaches
disabilities like the able-bodied, provide should understand that athletes with
many benefits, including; increase Cerebral Palsy (CP), amputations, and
strength and endurance, improvement spinal cord injury (SCI) require different
in performance, restoration of activity training regimes. Coaches should also
of mind, increased self-confidence, and be aware that mental disabilities can be
overall improvement in their quality of grouped into various conditions such as
life. Moreover, sports play a major role in Down syndrome, slow learner, autism,
social medical, educational, and dyslexia, and mental retardation.
vocational aspects of comprehensive There are also other categories of
rehabilitation programmes for people disabilities, including athletes who are
with disability. Due to these reasons, the visually-impaired and hearing-impaired.
first competitive sports for the physically Physical disabilities may also affect
disabled were introduced by Sir Ludwig mobility, balance, agility, strength,
Guttmann at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in endurance, cardiovascular or combination
1948 called the Stoke Mandeville Games of these capabilities. The foregoing
(SMG) which continues currently as the lists different types of disabilities that
International Stoke Mandeville Games might influence sports participation and
[1]. performance which coaches should
Although, all able-bodied and consider as they train athletes with
persons with disabilities focus on their disabilities.
quality of life and wellbeing [2], persons
with disabilities generally are less likely to Important factors to consider in
have opportunities to be active, making training athletes with disabilities
their health concerns due to inactivity
greater than the able-bodied [3, 4, 5, Below are some important
6, 7]. For example, persons who are suggestions that coaches need to include
visually-impaired use more energy in their training programmes for athletes
during activities of daily living [8], and with disabilities.
tend to have lower levels of physical
activity and health-related fitness than • Keep a good balance among mind,
those who are sighted [9, 10, 11, 12]. technique, and body of athletes with
Furthermore, impairments affect muscle disabilities in training programmes.
strength and motor control performance • Accept each athlete’s disabili
for those with motor impairments and ties/physical conditions as unique
these limit their participation in sports. and design appropriate training
With the special needs of persons programmes for them.
with disabilities in mind, coaches should • Have adequate knowledge of the
design their training programmes to deal rules and laws of sport and how
appropriately with these needs. In fact, they might affect athletes with
coaching athletes with disabilities is not a disabilities.
difficult task if a coach is able to accept • Develop an awareness of the
each participant as an individual and deal equipment that athletes with
with their specific needs and conditions. disabilities use including gloves, rams,
As a coach, it is important to be aware and wheelchairs and make sure they
of each person’s disabilities and the level are suitable for the particular sports.
at which each athlete is capable of • Compared to coaches of able-bodied
functioning. Remember that even people athletes, coaches of athletes with
with the same physical condition (throughout physical disabilities require great-
this article the term condition(s) is er flexibility and lateral thinking in
used synonymously with disability (dis- order to attain the best possi-
abilities) may choose different activities ble movement patterns for their
and develop the skills associated with athletes.
those activities, albeit to different levels • Coaches of athletes with
of performance. Coaches should also physical disabilities have to address
understand the definitions of different the added dimension of analysing the
ISN Bulletin Volume 1, No. 2, 2008 53
creative when applying principles of in the Olympics, but later they reversed
biomechanics for these athletes. One the verdict to allow him to compete in the
example is when coaching an athlete or Olympics, but to qualify on merit by
sprinter with a single above elbow (AE) achieving the qualifying time of 45.55
amputation, his or her performance in seconds in the 400 metres. He, however,
balance and the sprinting ability decrease failed to achieve the qualifying time.
because without upper limb(s), the body In swimming, using artificial
cannot propel efficiently to generate force. limb would not be advisable since it will
Using hand prosthesis might be a good make the swimmer experience difficulty
solution but wearing prosthesis requires in movement, by using more drag force
good skin care including skin checks and jeopardise the recording of fast time.
to avoid skin stress due to abnormal So it is better for an amputee-athlete to
shearing force. The same thing applies swim without using it. It is also vital for
to leg prosthesis. Using leg prosthesis an amputee-athlete to use prosthesis in
can increase speed of the athlete as it is badminton, cycling, lawn bowl,
biomechanically efficient. table-tennis and even archery. In throwing
In jumping events, an athlete does events, it is necessary for a shot putter or
not want to use leg prosthesis because a discus thrower to use prosthesis leg in
they are uncomfortable with it, and are order to gain ground reaction force.
also afraid the prosthesis might give them
problems during jumping. It is also not Athletes with neurological conditions
advantageous to use prosthesis in an event
such as high jump, since the force from Athletes with disabilities such as
the amputated leg will be transferred to Cerebral Palsy (CP), Acquired Brain Injury
the jumping leg during the take-off phase. (ABI), Stroke and Spinal Cord Injury
In running events, using the J-shape (SCI) have some difficulties coordinating
prosthesis might give an advantage to and controlling their movements. This is
the runner, especially those with below because the more severe the condition,
knee (BK) amputations. Even though the more likely that these athletes will
Oscar Pistorius (who has double also experience limitations in functional
below-knee amputations and run using range of motion (ROM). The coach’s aim
a carbon-fibre blades) wish to run at the is to help these athletes achieve greater
Beijing Olympics 2008, was not realised motor control and greater flexibility.
due initially to protest relating to his CP describes a group of disorders
additional mechanical aids and his that affect the development of movement
subsequent failure to achieve the Olympic and posture, causing activity limitation,
qualifying time in 400 metres, and are attributed to non-progressive
nevertheless, he is still known as “the disturbances that occurred in the
fastest man on no legs”. He has also run developing foetal or infant brain. The
the fastest 400 metres with a time of 46.90 motor disorders of CP are often
seconds, and has created a phenomenon accompanied by disturbances of
by proving that running techniques is sensation, cognition, communication,
not always the same as our previous perception, and/or behaviour and/or by a
understanding from theories and books. seizure disorder [17]. CP can be classified
For example, in November by motor involvement and its distributions
2007, German professor Gert-Peter or pattern. The most common patterns
Brueggemann began testing Oscar are spastic. Coaches should be aware that
Pistorius advantages, and his study found some components of movement such as
that the artificial limb used 25% less balance, coordination, and muscle tone
energy than able-bodied runners to run of spastic athletes are affected by their
at the same speed, and they led to less condition and appropriate training
vertical motion combined with 30% less programmes should be designed for them.
mechanical work for lifting the body. These It is recommended that if spastic athletes
findings were used by the International experience problems in balance while
Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in standing position during stretching,
to ban Oscar Pistorius from participating the coach should allow them to perform
ISN Bulletin Volume 1, No. 2, 2008 55
stretching in a seated position or get help the paraplegic athletes can throw using
from others to assist them. the rotation of their waist because some
Athletes with paraplegia, can utilise higher classes of SCI athletes depend only
their upper limbs to do exercise, whether on their arms and wrist to throw. Some
using isokinetic machine, resistance SCI athletes lose their thermoregulation
band, or engaged in active and passive system function due to their high level
stretching. This is to enhance their fitness of spinal injury. The higher and more
level, blood circulation and also prevent complete the spinal cord damage
blood pooling especially at the lower limb. above T6, the greater the strain to the
Paraplegic athletes should also avoid cardiovascular system and temperature
sitting too long on wheelchair, since it will regulation system when the body is
lead to the development of pressure sores exposed to the heat [20]. Most people with
that can be detrimental to their health. paraplegic do not sweat below the level
For athletes with disabilities of the injury, because of the loss of the
who are involved in the sport of Boccia, ability to sweat [16]. This condition is
integration of strength training into known as poikilothermic [16]. The best
their training programme would be vital. way to deal with this condition is for the
Persons with lower-limb disability who coach to advise the athlete to wrap cold
have to rely on manually propelled towel behind the neck, and would be
wheelchair for locomotion, have a limited considered as artificial sweat. These
mobility and range of action compared to athletes should not be exposed for too
able-bodied individuals. It is, therefore, long under the hot sun, and should drink
suggested that wheelchair mobility of plenty of water and should always cool
disabled athletes can be optimised by themselves down. If training under the hot
improving the vehicle mechanics of the sun, the coach should reduce the intensity
wheelchair, adjusting the wheelchair or bout of the training. Another possible
design to be appropriate for the user, option would be to train them in an indoor
as well as improving the individual’s arena.
functional capacity [18]. In this respect, Those athletes, who have high
the assessment of cardio respiratory level of injury, tend to lose their bowel
fitness of wheelchair users has emerged and bladder control [20]. So hygiene is
as an important area of interest in the very important, to make the athletes
field of sports performance evaluation. comfortable during their activity. A
Using arm-crank ergo-metre or modified coach should make sure to provide extra
shuttle run test can be used to assess catheter and urine bag for them. A coach
those athletes with paraplegia and should always focus on the athletes’
tetraplegia with neurological conditions or strength, and not on their weaknesses.
spinal cord damage. It is also recommended that during
In order to produce aerobic effects, training under hot humid environment, a
the amount of effort expended by coach should decrease the intensity and
athletes with some disabilities may have duration of the training session, while
to be greater than that required for advising athletes to consume more fluid to
athletes without disabilities. Hooker ameliorate the effect of the heat.
and Wells [19], for example, found that
producing training effects for persons Athletes with cognitive disabilities
with spinal cord injuries requires higher
maximal heart rate levels of 70 percent Athletes with disabilities such
than the general population. as mental retardation, severe learning
For athletes with SCI condition, disabilities, Down syndrome, autism, and
using resistance training such as bands dyslexia generally have physical ability to
and cords could help them develop a perform running, throwing and jumping
better feel for the desired movement. motion using the correct technique.
SCI athletes, who uses sport/racing Resistance exercise programs for
wheelchair can propel them well, provided individuals and also athletes with mental
that they have their upper body strength retardation are especially important
and arms. Coaches have to make sure that because they have positive impact relative
56 National Sports Institute of Malaysia
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