Impact of Holding a Badminton Racket on Spatio-Temporal and Kinetic Parameters During Manual Wheelchair Propulsion

Abstract

IntroductionPara badminton entered the Paralympic world for the first time with the 2021 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. The particularity of this sport lies in the handling of the wheelchair and the racket simultaneously. To the best of our knowledge, and considering the youthfulness of this sport, it appears that no study has looked at the impact of the badminton racket on the kinetic and spatiotemporal parameters. Therefore, the aim of our study was to investigate the impact of the badminton racket on the amplitude of kinetic and spatiotemporal parameters of wheelchair propulsion, considered as propulsion effectiveness and risk of injury criteria. We hypothesized that holding a badminton racket while propelling the wheelchair modifies the kinetics and temporal parameters of the athlete's propulsion due to the difficulty to hold the handrim, therefore decreasing propulsion effectiveness and increasing risk of injury.Materials and MethodsFor six 90-min sessions, 16 able-bodied individuals were introduced to badminton. No injuries hindered their propulsion. They had to propel with and without a racket held on the dominant side along a 20 m straight line at a constant velocity of 5 km/h. They all used the same sports wheelchair equipped with two instrumented wheels (SmartWheel).ResultsParticipants increased their maximal total force and force rate of rise but decreased their fraction of effective force with their dominant hand compared to the non-dominant hand when using a racket. In addition, they decreased their fraction of effective force, push time, cycle time, and push angle, and increased their maximal propulsive moment, maximal total force, and force rate of rise when comparing the same dominant hand with and without the racket.DiscussionUsing a badminton racket modifies the athlete's force application in a way that is generally related to lower propulsion effectiveness and a higher risk for injury. Indeed, it seems that propulsion with a racket prevents from correctly grabbing the handrim.

Wheelchair Badminton: A Narrative Review of Its Specificities

“…Thus, a better understanding of this tool and its implications could lead to beneficial modifications in athletes' performance and contribute to reducing the risk of injuries. One study focused on examining the influence of employing a badminton racket on the propulsion's kinematics [15], and one short communication focused on the impact of the racket on muscular parameters during wheelchair propulsion [16]. In the study by Alberca et al [15], 16 novice able-bodied subjects who underwent wheelchair badminton training performed a test at a stabilized submaximal speed of 5 km/h.…”

“…One study focused on examining the influence of employing a badminton racket on the propulsion's kinematics [15], and one short communication focused on the impact of the racket on muscular parameters during wheelchair propulsion [16]. In the study by Alberca et al [15], 16 novice able-bodied subjects who underwent wheelchair badminton training performed a test at a stabilized submaximal speed of 5 km/h. They were required to propel the wheelchair at this stabilized speed along a straight line of 20 m with and without a racket.…”

“…They were required to propel the wheelchair at this stabilized speed along a straight line of 20 m with and without a racket. Only one sports wheelchair was used for the tests, which was equipped with two instrumented wheels to measure kinematics and kinetics parameters [15]. In the short communication by de Fukui et al [16], six healthy men performed maximal repetitions of 30 cm forward-back sprints using a wheelchair for 20 s under two conditions: with and without a racquet.…”

“…One study focused on examining the influence of employing a badminton racket on the propulsion's kinematics [15]. Their results concerning the kinetic parameters of propulsion reveal that the use of the racket alters the force application on the handrim in a manner that increases generated forces while decreasing the efficiency of propulsion [15].…”

“…One study focused on examining the influence of employing a badminton racket on the propulsion's kinematics [15]. Their results concerning the kinetic parameters of propulsion reveal that the use of the racket alters the force application on the handrim in a manner that increases generated forces while decreasing the efficiency of propulsion [15]. In fact, their study revealed that the rate of rise, maximum power output, and push angle are higher during the racket condition compared to the without racket condition [15].…”