Physiological response to slalom water skiing: A case study of a sit-skier with paraplegia

Recreational and competitive slalom waterskiing is popular among those with spinal cord injuries. People with paraplegia can practice on the slalom course using a sit-ski. A slalom run consists of a boat towing the sit-skier through a set of buoys and normally begins with a deep-water start. Despite its popularity, very little is known about the physiological aspects of the sit-skier's preparation. We examined the internal training load (TL) experienced by a sit-skier with paraplegia while learning and improving the slalom deep-water starts, executed with both the traditional technique and an alternative method. The TL was determined by means of heart rate (HR) and session rating of perceived exertion (sRPE) methods. The percentage of maximal heart rate values ranged from from 63.2% to 81.3% during deep-water starts. Training sessions were performed most of the time below the ventilatory threshold and tended to be qualitatively described as hard. A moderate but non-significant correlation existed between HR and sRPE-based methods. We also found a significant decrement in handgrip strength after practice. These findings indicate that the intensity of training experienced by our sit-skier was moderate in terms of physiological internal load during an adaptive slalom waterskiing training program.