Changing the World of Wheelchair Basketball – Improving Training with APDM Technology

The Santa Lucia Foundation Junior Wheelchair Basketball team of Rome, Italy, was the subject of a recent study on wheelchair propulsion biomechanics.

Wheelchair Basketball is one of the most popular wheelchair-based sports, with increasing competitiveness. Because of this, development of accurate training protocols is becoming more important than ever.

The purpose of this study was to identify biomechanical parameters that are related to athletic performance, and design a training program based on this data.

The study used data from APDM Opal Wearable Sensors to quantify athletic performance for each test subject by mounting sensors on the wrists and back of the wheelchair.  The team developed a list of biomechanical indices associated with a 20-meter sprint test that proved to correlate with athlete test performance. This data was then used to quantify how the athletes obtained good test performance to create a customized strength and coordination training program.

The efficacy of the training program was analyzed after three months of administration, and proved to be productive in nature.

APDM technology is showcased very well in the world of athletics. One of the many unique things about our systems is the ability to collect data on or off the field, in an athlete’s field of play, wirelessly. This allows us to gather natural movement – including things like fatigue, efficiency of movement, and timing – all which can be adjusted in real-time for precise performance tuning.

See what APDM technology can do for athletics here. 

Photo by Pino Rampolla.