Published 4 issues per year
ISSN Print: 0896-2960
ISSN Online: 2162-6553
Indexed in
Level of Sports Participation and Performance among People with Spinal Cord Injury
ABSTRACT
Sports participation in people with spinal cord injury leads to enhanced functional capacity, increased muscle strength, greater flexibility, and increased optimism. It is important to encourage people with spinal cord injury to participate in sports and understand facilitators of and barriers to it. Sports participation in people with physical disabilities including spinal cord injury is lower compared with people without them. Sports participation among the physically disabled in high-income countries like the United States and the Netherlands is 44% and 37%, respectively, whereas among people with spinal cord injury in Australia and Switzerland it is 44.6% and 59.8%, respectively. Limited information is available on sports participation of people with spinal cord injury in low- to middle-income countries. The present study aimed to explore sports participation among adults with spinal cord injury in Mumbai, India. Following ethical approval, 102 subjects (mean age 40.41 years; 88 males and 14 females) with spinal cord injury from four paraplegic rehabilitation centers were interviewed. Sports participation was 60% in people with spinal cord injury (n = 61/102). Strong family support, financial security, and institutional support in the form of motivation and training facilities were the top facilitators. Barriers faced during participation in sports were difficulty in reaching the sports ground, lack of disabled-friendly toilets, and accommodation. Reasons for not participating in sports were lack of self-motivation, poor fitness level, and low confidence attributed to disability.
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