Medical Concerns Among Wheelchair Road Racers

In brief: Before participating in the 1987 Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, 43 wheelchair athletes completed a questionnaire about their training methods, injuries, and medical concerns. The injuries reported most frequently were abrasions and musculoskeletal syndromes of the upper extremities. Of particular interest in the study were the types of residual neurologic deficits and autonomic dysfunction among athletes with spinal cord injury. These deficits included altered temperature regulatory mechanisms, neurogenic bladder and bowel, spasticity, and autonomic dysreflexia. Athletes also reported the medications they used; several medications used frequently by this group of athletes may have an adverse effect on performance.