COMPARISON OF THE EFFECT OF TWO SPORTS WHEELCHAIRS ON THE PROPULSION SPEED AND NEUROMUSCULAR EFFICIENCY OF THE TRICEPS BRACHII MUSCLE IN ATHLETES PLAYING WHEEL BASKETBALL Nathalia Hupsel Silva de Castro, Ciro Winckler, Império Lombardi, Walkiria de Moraes, Marcelo Ismael Abrahão, Maria Stella Peccin da Silva

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of two different sports wheelchairson the neuromuscular efficiency of the triceps brachii muscle and the maximum velocity of detachment. For this, a cross-sectional observational study was carriedout, in which 26 basketball-hockey athletes were evaluated among amateur and professional athletes, in which they were divided into two groups according to theirfunctional classification. Each athlete performed the push phase, in which the wheelchair was attached to the load cell, whose function was to perform a maximumvoluntary contraction (CVM) and a maximum travel speed test of 20 meters with two sports wheelchairs different, being these, its sports wheelchair of individual use and a sports wheelchair standardized for its classification. Significant differenceswere found between wheelchairs for the variables: muscle strength (p = 0.018), neuromuscular efficiency (p = 0.015) and maximum displacement velocity (p = 0.010). There were significant differences between groups 1 and 2 for the variables maximum velocity and initial elbow angulation, with p <0.05. It is concluded that the wheelchair interferes with the athlete's physical abilities, such as athlete's maximum speed, muscle strength and neuromuscular efficiency of the triceps brachii, and, therefore,the analysis of a standard ergometer adjusted for the different deficiencies does not enables athletes to achieve their best physical performance.