title: The effects of rear-wheel camber on maximal effort mobility performance in wheelchair athletes.
abstract: This study examined the effect of rear-wheel camber on maximal effort wheelchair mobility performance. 14 highly trained wheelchair court sport athletes performed a battery of field tests in 4 standardised camber settings (15°, 18°, 20°, 24°) with performance analysed using a velocometer. 20 m sprint times reduced in 18° (5.89±0.47 s, P=0.011) and 20° camber (5.93±0.47 s, P=0.030) compared with 24° (6.05±0.45 s). Large effect sizes revealed that 18° camber enabled greater acceleration over the first 2 (r=0.53, 95% CI=0.004 to 0.239) and 3 (r=0.59, 95% CI=0.017 to 0.170) pushes compared with 24°. Linear mobility times significantly improved (P≤0.05) in 15° (16.08±0.84 s), 18° (16.06±0.97 s) and 20° (16.22±0.84 s) camber compared with 24° (16.62±1.10 s). Although no statistically significant main effect of camber was revealed, large effect sizes (r=0.72, 95% CI=0.066 to 0.250) demonstrated that 18° camber reduced times taken to perform the manoeuvrability drill compared with 15°. It was concluded that 18° camber was the best performing setting investigated given its superior performance for both linear and non-linear aspects of mobility, whereas 24° camber impaired linear performance. This was likely to be due to the greater drag forces experienced. Subsequently, athletes would be recommended to avoid 24° camber and young or inexperienced athletes in particular may benefit from selecting 18° as a starting point due to its favourable performance for all aspects of mobility performance in the current study.
authors.affiliation: Loughborough University, School of Sport Exercise & Health Sciences, The Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport, Loughborough, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mason
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: van der Woude
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tolfrey
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Goosey-Tolfrey
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D056352:Athletes; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D014910:Wheelchairs; D055815:Young Adult