1003 - The Impact of Wheelchair Usage on Health Metrics in Athletes with Intellectual Disability

Objectives: Individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) face unique challenges in regular physical exercise that may be further amplified for wheelchair users. Despite the growing interest in adaptive sports and inclusive physical activities, there remains a significant gap in our understanding of the effects of wheelchair usage on exercise frequency and health metrics among individuals with ID. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of wheelchair usage on exercise habits and health metrics, including hand grip strength, respiratory fitness, and flexibility, in athletes with intellectual disabilities.

Design: The Special Olympics’ American Healthy Athlete database was queried for athletes from 2007-2018. Participants underwent a series of standardized assessments to evaluate their hand grip strength, aerobic fitness, and flexibility. Additionally, daily exercise habits were assessed through self-reported questionnaires. Stratified by wheelchair usage, descriptive analysis, T-Tests, and chi-square analysis were calculated for each health metric.

Results: 31,810 Special Olympic participants from 2007-2018 were included with 484 (1.5%) wheelchair users. Wheelchair users were significantly less likely to exercise daily (p=0.0012) and significantly more likely to report 0 days of moderate exercise weekly. (p< 0.001) For strength health measures wheelchair users had significantly lower left-hand grip, right-hand grip, and maximal hand grip. Furthermore, in all measures of flexibility including left and right functional reach wheelchair users performed significantly worse than non wheelchair users. Finally, wheelchair users had significantly higher levels of abdominal strength deficits than non-wheelchair users (p< 0.001).

Conclusions: The findings underscore the need for tailored interventions and support systems to promote regular physical activity, improve upper body strength, enhance flexibility, and address core strength deficits in wheelchair users with ID. By addressing these challenges, healthcare professionals, coaches, and trainers can help optimize the physical performance and overall well-being of individuals with intellectual disabilities who rely on wheelchairs.