Quantifying the Physiological Demands and Kinematic Activity in Elite Wheelchair Basketball

This study described the physiological and locomotor demands of elite wheelchair basketball. Players (n=12) had two data collection periods; (1) laboratory and field-based testing to determine peak physiological and locomotor responses, (2) in-game collection of oxygen consumption (VO2), heart rate (HR), and locomotor activity (Speed). Players averaged 31.3 ± 6.9 minutes of playing time, a VO2 of 32.4 ± 5.8 ml·kg-1·min-1 and spent the game at 85.8 ± 10.7 %VO2peak. Further, HRmean was 159.4 ± 14.6 bpm and they spent the game at 87.3% ± 8.1-1 -1 %HRpeak. Speedmean was 1.29 ± 0.15 m·s and players averaged a Speedpeak of 3.23 ± 0.35 m·s . There were no significant differences in VO2, %VO2peak, HRmean, %HRpeak, Velmean, or Velpeak (t- test, p > 0.05) between low and high classification players. The results from the present study demonstrate that wheelchair basketball requires intermittent efforts of high physiological demands for both low and high classification players.M.Sc