SPORTS RECOVERY IN ATHLETES WITH DISABILITIES: A VIEW FROM THE NARRATIVES OF PHYSICAL THERAPISTS, COACHES AND ATHLETES

D.A. Camargo Rojas¹, M.J. Ruda Giraldo²

Background: There are many investigations in sports recovery in conventional sport, which have demonstrated the effectiveness of various techniques, however in Paralympics sport there are very few investigations focused on sports recovery, also there no investigations within a qualitative approach, where the voices of the protagonists of the recovery are heard, for this reason it is necessary to inquire about the knowledge, perceptions and experiences that people involved in the sport recovery. The qualitative research carried out in paralympic sport in Colombia are focused on the inclusion, where it is observed that the facilitators are the family and the support provided by governmental entities, on the other hand, the barriers re related the imaginaries that exist in people with disabilities and the little public politics focused on the inclusion of athletes with disabilities.

Purpose: Understand the perceptions, experiences and knowledge about sports recovery of physical therapists, coaches and athletes with disabilities in the Paralympics sports leagues of Bogota and Colombian teams.

Methods: A study was conducted with a narrative design of topic, in which semi-structured interviews were conducted with physical therapists, coaches and athletes with disabilities, belonging to athletics, power-lifting, swimming and sitting volleyball selections, of Paralympics sports leagues of Bogota and Colombian teams. Sampling was carried out by snowball, and the number of interviewees was determined by narrative research with one or more individuals. The narrations obtained will be systematized and analyzed through ATLAS.ti, using a content analysis.

Results: Fourteen interviews were conducted in this study and from the voices and speeches of the actors, it was evident that there is little information regarding sports recovery in the Paralympics sport; inequality was also identified in the support provided to athletes, inequity in accompaniment by region, due to low recruitment of physical therapists by the National Sports System; interventions without scientific basis, based on experience, due to the little research scientific in the sports recovery in athletes with disabilities; distrust of some athletes towards physical therapists, affecting the physical therapists-athlete relationship; lack of support from public politics, the importance of integral recovery, the positive effects of fatigue when there is a load-recovery balance and the different factors that can cause fatigue in athletes are given importance. 

Conclusion(s): The knowledge, perceptions and experiences of physical therapists, coaches and athletes with disabilities, we realize that it is necessary to carry out more research on recovery with athletes with disabilities, to base the interventions of physical therapists on scientific evidence, to strengthen the support for athletes and educate athletes with disabilities.

Implications: This research will serve as a basis for future research; also it will give physical therapists to take into account in their academic training and in working practice, provide athletes with the information and importance of sports recovery and give coaches another vision of sports recovery according to those mentioned by athletes and physical therapists.

Funding, acknowledgements: To physiotherapists, trainers and paralimp athletes, who belong to the Colombia team. The study was not funded.

Keywords: Sports for Persons with Disabilities, Fatigue, Sports medicine

Topic: Sport & sports injuries

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá

Committee: Facultad de Medicina

Ethics number: Number: 007-058 May 13th, 2020