Muscular activity in a paralympic swimmer: a case study

Analyzing the muscle activity in paralympic swimmers can be crucial not only for monitoring and enhancing the performance, but also for identifying any compensatory mechanisms that play a role in the final sport gestures. For this purpose, a case study of a paralympic athlete with spastic paraplegia is presented. The Deltoid and Trapezius muscles activity was measured during three swimming gestures performed lying on a bench. The results highlighted a greater activation of the right muscles compared to the left ones, even if the trajectory of the hands during the swimming exercises did not show any considerable difference. Hence, in order to obtain a symmetrical movement, the subject recruited differently the right and the left muscles.