Wheelchair basketball: Fitness and quality of life

Abstract

The aims of the study were to assess the physical activity (PA) level, subjective perception of quality of life (QOL), muscle strength, flexibility, and agility in wheelchair basketball (WB) players from Pelotas/Rio Grande do Sul. The sample consisted of 10 WB amateur athletes. For muscle strength, we applied three isometric handgrip tests - maximum handgrip test (MIHS in kgf), sub-maximum handgrip test (to assess strength endurance at 70% of MIHS (70MIHS in s) and scapular isometric test (SIS), - and two isotonic tests to measure strength endurance (maximum repetitions in 1 min) in: i) elbow flexor muscles (EFS) and ii) shoulder abductors (SAS). To evaluate agility, it was conducted adapted 20-m Shuttle Run (SR). For flexibility, we adopted Apley's and Back Stretch tests. Physical activity (PA) and QOL were measured by IPAQ and World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL) BREF-version, respectively. Descriptive statistics and t test were used with significance level at 5%. The performance in MIHS, 70MIHS, SIS, EFS, SAS and Apley's test was, respectively, 46.2±5.1 kgf, 49.3±15.8 s, 28.4±11.5 kgf, 37.1±9.9 reps, 28.3±6.6 reps and 12.7±10.9 to right side and 47.5±9.0 kgf, 45.4±11.3 s, 30.8±12.6 kgf, 40.4±7.8 reps, 29.8±5.6 reps and 13.4±5.1 cm to left side. The athletes reached 93.0±10.9 cm in the Back Stretch (cm) test and 16.2±1.9 s in the SR. They showed 736±120 min/week of moderate and 467±191.4 min/week of vigorous PA, and the WHOQOL-bref overall score was 67.6±5.5. The WB players exhibited QOL near to the reference values and superior performance in agility test when compared with people with physical impairments from other sports.