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

Abstract

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.