Conference presentation
Paralympic sporting equipment: Performance enhancement or necessary for performance?
VISTA Conference: Equipment and technology in Paralympic sports, 2013 (Bonn, Germany, 01-May-2013–04-May-2013)
2013
Abstract
Highly active people with a disability, Paralympians, often depend on assistive devices to replace their lost function and to enable activities of daily living, including the ability to participate in competitive sport. Paralympic sports evolved from medical rehabilitation programs in the 1950s. The objective of a rehabilitation program is to regain a level of function for the client; for an athlete, the highest expression of this return to function is to compete at an elite level in the Paralympic Games. In the endeavour to go higher, faster and longer, athletes have found that standard sport equipment can inhibit their sporting performance. To satisfy these demands significant new technological developments in wheelchair design and prostheses have occurred, and radical equipment designs such as energy-absorbing prostheses, seated throwing chairs, and racing wheelchairs have revolutionized sports medicine thinking. The greatest challenge with Paralympic sporting equipment is the technology must match the individual requirements of the athlete, and the sport, in order for Paralympians to optimize their performance. Within the 'Performance enhancement or necessary for performance?' debate, any potential increase in pure mechanical performance from the sporting equipment must be considered along with the 'control and compensatory factors' the athlete has to manage. Given that a grey area remains regarding how well an athlete is able to transfer any potential mechanical advantage into a real advantage, the sporting benefit-of-the-doubt should probably fall in favour of the technology being necessary for performance, rather than performance enhancing. The challenge for researchers will be to effectively 'match' the technology with the athletes' requirements. In the best interest of the athlete, and to avoid potential legal problems and unwarranted issues for sporting administrators and participants, the role of technology needs to be openly debated and final recommendations made well before the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Details
- Title
- Paralympic sporting equipment: Performance enhancement or necessary for performance?
- Authors
- Brendan J Burkett (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
- Conference details
- VISTA Conference: Equipment and technology in Paralympic sports, 2013 (Bonn, Germany, 01-May-2013–04-May-2013)
- Date published
- 2013
- Organisation Unit
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Health - Sports & Exercise Science
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99448775702621
- Output Type
- Conference presentation
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