Psychophysiological stress response of a Paralympic athlete during an ultra-endurance event. A case study

Abstract

Psychophysiological response of athletes with spinal cord injurie has not been reported yet in scientific literature. The aim of this study is to examine the psychophysiological stress response of Paralympic athlete during competitive activities. We collected the following psychophysiological measurements: anxiety-trait, anxiety-state, locus of control, perceived psychological stress, stress-copying style, rate of perceived exertion, perceived muscle pain, body temperature, forced vital capacity, blood oxygen saturation, blood glucose and lactate concentrations, isometric hand strength, cortical arousal, heart rate variability, heart rate and velocities of a female Paralympic spinal cord injured athlete in a 11 h and 44 min ultraendurance mountain event. An ultraendurance mountain even produced an increase in the sympathetic autonomous modulation, heart rate, lactate, muscular pain and rated of perceived exertion and a decrease in cortical arousal, hand strength and respiratory muscle in a spinal cord injurie female athlete during. The Paralympic athletes presented a low psychological inflexibility, high life engagement, strong internal locus of control, a low trait and state anxiety and medium perceived psychological stress. These results are consistent with the expected response during a highly stressful situation and consistent with previous findings in athletes without spinal cord injurie.