Psychophysiological Stress Response of a Paralympic Athlete During an Ultra-Endurance Event. A Case Study

Abstract

Psychophysiological response of athletes with spinal cord injurie has not been reported yet in scientific literature. The aim of this study is to examine the psychophysiological stress response of Paralympic athlete during competitive activities. We collected the following psychophysiological measurements: anxiety-trait, anxiety-state, locus of control, perceived psychological stress, stress-copying style, rate of perceived exertion, perceived muscle pain, body temperature, forced vital capacity, blood oxygen saturation, blood glucose and lactate concentrations, isometric hand strength, cortical arousal, heart rate variability, heart rate and velocities of a female Paralympic spinal cord injured athlete in a 11 h and 44 min ultraendurance mountain event. An ultraendurance mountain even produced an increase in the sympathetic autonomous modulation, heart rate, lactate, muscular pain and rated of perceived exertion and a decrease in cortical arousal, hand strength and respiratory muscle in a spinal cord injurie female athlete during. The Paralympic athletes presented a low psychological inflexibility, high life engagement, strong internal locus of control, a low trait and state anxiety and medium perceived psychological stress. These results are consistent with the expected response during a highly stressful situation and consistent with previous findings in athletes without spinal cord injurie.

Multidisciplinary Analysis of Differences Between Finisher and Non-finisher Ultra-Endurance Mountain Athletes

“…However, significant increases were found in isometric hand grip strength, which leads us to think that the greater sympathetic activation which occurs in this type of events (Belinchon-deMiguel and Clemente-Suárez, 2018), can lead to increases in muscle strength, as it has been shown in other stressful and extreme conditions, such a military contexts (Tornero-Aguilera et al, 2017;Tornero-Aguilera and Clemente-Suarez, 2018). This tendency was not similar with an ultra-endurance Paralympic athlete, where hand strength values decreased after an ultraendurance mountain event, probably due to the fact the upper body muscles were the principal implicated in this event (Belinchon-deMiguel et al, 2019).…”

“…Another acute effect of this type of events is a decrease in muscle strength values, not generalized, since only the strength of the lower limbs was negatively affected, which is consequent with previous studies in similar ultra-endurance events (Belinchon-deMiguel et al, 2019), explained due to the higher implication of lower body muscles. However, significant increases were found in isometric hand grip strength, which leads us to think that the greater sympathetic activation which occurs in this type of events (Belinchon-deMiguel and Clemente-Suárez, 2018), can lead to increases in muscle strength, as it has been shown in other stressful and extreme conditions, such a military contexts (Tornero-Aguilera et al, 2017;Tornero-Aguilera and Clemente-Suarez, 2018).…”

Modulators of the Personal and Professional Threat Perception of Olympic Athletes in the Actual COVID-19 Crisis

“…Currently, in addition to all these factors, the COVID-19 pandemic appears as a new factor of uncertainty and lack of control, becoming a new stressor for Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Olympic and Paralympic athletes presented low psychological inflexibility, loneliness, and anxiety values, characteristic psychological profile of these population (Bond et al, 2011;Belinchón-deMiguel et al, 2019). Nerveless, athletes with lower studies (high school) presented higher psychological inflexibility than athletes with higher studies.…”

“…In the present study we found how anxiety levels were in line with non-pathological population, showing no impact of the quarantine in the anxiety response of Olympic and Paralympic athletes. This fact could be related with the higher cognitive resources and large experience of these high-performance athletes in coping with anxiety contexts as competitions (Belinchón-deMiguel et al, 2019). These characteristics could be also explaining the high punctuation in conscientiousness personality factor, fact related with the aim of to control every aspect of training, nutrition, life... that can finally affect competition.…”

Assessment of the Relationship between Selected Factors and Stress-Coping Strategies in Handcyclists—A Preliminary Study

“…Earlier studies in athletes with spinal cord injuries (SCI) focused on the analysis of strength, ergometry and mental well-being, showing that long-term and short-term physical training, improving physical and mental performance, is possible. When it comes to Paralympians, research focused on the study of mechanical performance, the effect of training upper body muscle endurance and the effects of interval training [43]. Havva (2019), in turn, conducted research of differences in fear of social appearance and self-esteem in athletes with and without disabilities.…”