SummaryThe wheelchair marathon is one of the most difficult sports for participants with much uncertainty regarding the security of the paraplegics. The physical fitness of paraplegics has been examined regularly since The Oita International Wheelchair Marathon (half marathon) was inaugurated (1981). A full marathon (42·195 km) was adopted at The 3rd Meeting (1983). The individual equations between heart rate (HR) and oxygen consumption V02 were drawn from the preliminary test on the subjects who were expected to be among the top finishers in these races. V02 during these races was indirectly estimated and showed a fairly low value (35'0 ± 3,8 ml/kg/min in the full race, 32-7 ± 6-3 ml/kg/min in the half race respectively) in comparison with able-bodied elite runners. However, the paraplegic participants had extremely high HR (171·6 ± 20·5 beats/min, 168·1 ± 9·8) con tinuously throughout the race. Though the ratio of active muscle mass of arms to legs in paraplegic athletes may approximate to near equal, paraplegic arms seem to exert physiologically and mechanically less efficient power. There were no significant differences in physical fitness between the full and the half marathon elite finishers. The cardiovascular function of paraplegic athletes may well be ranked among those of able-bodied athletes in their fitness. Full wheelchair marathon seems to be safe if it is held in an appropriate environment.

In order to know if peripheral neuropathies in the upper extremities of paraplegic individuals are induced by participating in wheelchair marathon races, we performed nerve conduction studies bilaterally on the median, ulnar, and radial nerves of 10 male wheelchair marathon racers, and on 10 male sedentary paraplegic individuals. In five of 10 paraplegic racers, and in nine of 10 sedentary paraplegics there was a decrease of motor nerve conduction velocities and/or prolongation of motor or sensory nerve distal latencies. Abnormal results in all of the nerve conduction studies were 3.2% and 13.6% in paraplegic racers and sedentary paraplegics, respectively. Although paraplegic racers had fewer peripheral neuropathies in the upper extremities than did sedentary paraplegics, ulnar lesions due to involvement of the deep motor branch and at the elbow were a characteristic feature of nerve injuries, presumably caused by wheelchair marathon racing. It is suggested that although a wheelchair marathon is generally a safe sport, wearing gloves and handling a wheelchair in the correct way during the race are necessary to prevent nerve injuries.

Wheelchair bound paraplegics tend to spend a sedentary life. They seem to be vulnerable to prolonged strenuous exertion because of their many physical handicaps such as metabolic depression, cardiovascular instability, urinary incontinence, pressure sores and so on. In commemoration of The International Year of the Disabled, The First Oita International Wheelchair Marathon was held in Autumn of 1981. This paper is to review the results of an experiment made at this half marathon. The course length was 21.1 km. Ten competitors were selected at random as the subjects for measuring energy expenditure during the race. As a preliminary examination, a work load test was performed by using a wheelchair treadmill to obtain a regression equation of the individual relationship between oxygen uptake and heart rates. The oxygen uptake of individuals during the race was estimated from the heart rates which were recorded by the small memory box fixed beneath the wheelchair. Six subjects were successfully examined. The results revealed that paraplegics safely tolerated the prolonged strenuous exercise. Their average oxygen uptake, mean heart rate and the lap time during the race were 34.17 +/- 8.11 ml/kg/min (mean +/- SD), 167.6 +/- 15.8 beats/min and 87.1 +/- 9.1 min respectively. Heart rate of the subjects was always very high during the race, although oxygen consumption was fairly low in comparison to able-bodied elite marathon runners.

The anthropometric data of the health check programme in the Oita Wheelchair Marathon Race were analysed. In the past 10 years, a total of 2677 competitors participated in this programme. Age, height, body weight, body fat, lung vital capacity, girth of chest, girth of upper arm, grasping force and power of upper arm were compared between 710 fine competitors and 99 poor competitors. Power of the upper arms and lung vital capacity played a major part in the result of the races. It was suggested that these two factors had major influences on the achievement of this type of sports activity.

SummaryTwenty eight stress tests for 14 wheelchair marathon competitors were performed to determine their physical fitness just before the Oita International wheelchair mara thon since 1984. All the subjects were wheelchair-bound Japanese males and workers at Sun Industry. Oxygen consumption at the maximal workload was significantly larger than that of non-athletic paraplegics and the mean values were 35·0 ± 4·8 ml/kg in competitors and 22·6 ± 5·0 ml/min/kg in non-athletic paraplegics. Eight competitors had more than 2 stress tests and 6 of them had 3 tests from 1984 to 1987. The oxygen consumption at the maximal workload of their third test was very high (46·5 ± 6·8 ml/min/kg) equal to highly trained paraplegics, and was larger than the result of the first test significantly. Their physical fitness was reduced signifi cantly during the off season, however their physical fitness was maintained at a satisfactory higher level than that of non-athletes. This study demonstrated that individual training for wheelchair marathoners had improved the competitors' physi cal fitness over several years.