The effect of slalom practice on handgrip strength of water-skiing athletes with paraplegia

Abstract

In water skiing, people who experience paraplegia ski in a sitting position, and they rely on hand grip strength (HGS) to grab the tow rope handle and run slalom passes. This study evaluated the immediate effects on maximum HGS after the practice of disabled water skiing, a still unknown aspect. In the dominant hand, maximum HGS was measured by hand-grip dynamometry after 14 practices of four male water skiers with complete spinal cord injury participating in a national championship, with mean age (standard deviation) of 37.2 (7.3) years and 2.5 (1.3) years of experience in water skiing. After practice, maximum HGS was reduced (pre-practice: 48.4 (3.6) kg; post-practice: 39.1 (8.7) kg) (p <0.001), with a large effect size (Cohen dz> 1.15). The lowest percentage decrease, 9.8 (8.3)%, was observed for the only skier with advanced level and highest maximum HGS pre-practice, while the skier with lowest maximum HGS pre-practice and an intermediate level showed a reduction of 38.9 (10.6)%. In the set of practices of the four skiers, the maximum HGS reduction after a mean grip time of 20.5 min was 18.5%, with no correlation between these variables (r = 0.49, p = 0.076). Practising slalom water-skiing in sitting position by people experiencing paraplegia leads to a decrease in the maximum HGS of the dominant hand, the percentage decrease may be in relation to competitive level and physical fitness of the skiers.