Current Technologies and Practices to Assess External Training Load in Paralympic Sport: A Systematic Review.

CONTEXT: Knowing the methods to assess the external load in Paralympic sports can help multidisciplinary teams rely on scientific evidence to better prescribe and monitor the athlete's development, improving sports performance and reducing the risk of injury/illness of Paralympic athletes. OBJECTIVES: This review aimed to systematically explore the current practices of quantifying the external load in Paralympic sports and provide an overview of the methods and techniques used. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: A search in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and EBSCO was carried out until November 2022. The measures of interest were objective methods for quantifying the external load of training or competition. The inclusion criteria for the studies were as follows: (1) peer-reviewed article; (2) the population were Paralympic athletes; (3) evaluated during training or competition; (4) reported at least one external load measure; and (5) published in English, Portuguese, or Spanish. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Of the 1961 articles found, 22 were included because they met the criteria, and 8 methods were identified to quantify the external load in training or competition in 8 Paralympic sports. The methods varied according to the characteristics of the Paralympic sports. To date, the devices used included an internal radiofrequency-based tracking system (wheelchair rugby) a miniaturized data logger (wheelchair tennis, basketball, and rugby); a linear position transducer (powerlifting and wheelchair basketball); a camera (swimming, goalball, and wheelchair rugby); a global positioning system (wheelchair tennis); heart rate monitors that assess external load variables in set (paracycling and swimming) and an electronic timer (swimming). CONCLUSIONS: Different objective methods were identified to assess the external load in Paralympic sports. However, few studies showed the validity and reliability of these methods. Further studies are needed to compare different methods of external load quantification in other Paralympic sports.

Effect of Paralympic powerlifting training on sleep and its relationship with training load

Abstract Aim: This study aims to compare the sleep parameters in Paralympic powerlifting athletes during days with and without training, and to analyze the relationship between the training load and sleep on the same day and the relationship between the previous night's sleep and the training load of the following day. Methods: Actigraphy was used to analyze the sleep parameters of 11 Paralympic powerlifting athletes for 14 days (7 days without and with training), whereas Ratings of Perceived Exertion (RPE) analysis was used to assess training load. In addition, the Horne and östberg chronotype questionnaire and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale were applied. Results: Athletes show morning and indifferent chronotype and low daytime sleepiness. We found that on training days, sleep onset latency (SOL) was lower (average 5.3 min faster), whereas total sleep time (TST) and sleep efficiency (SE) were higher (TST averaged 169 min and SE 7% higher) compared to non-training days. In addition, the TST of the night before the training days correlated positively with the RPE of the following day, and the training volume correlated negatively with the SE of the same day. Conclusion: Our findings show that Paralympic powerlifting training had positive effects in increasing TST and SE and decreasing SOL on training days. These results show the positive effects of this type of training in improving sleep in athletes with physical disabilities. In addition, a good night's sleep the day before training can make it possible to put more effort into the next day's training. Therefore, guiding athletes to sleep more before training with more intense loads is recommended.