Publications by authors named "Suzanne Ferreira"
Background: A spinal cord injury is a devastating and life-changing event that presents the affected individual with multiple challenges throughout life. Physical activity can help mitigate some of these challenges; however, in low-resource communities where opportunities for physical activity are scarce, these challenges are often exacerbated and multiple.
Objective: This study aimed to identify the barriers and facilitators to physical activity, specifically in individuals with spinal cord injuries, in low-resourced communities.
The Paralympic Movement explicitly sets out to create a more equitable society and promote participation for all and fairness in disability sport. This is primarily achieved through the use of a range of interventions with less attention given to how economic factors may hinder access and achievement in Paralympic sport. We investigated how country-level economic variables influence the level of participation and achievement in the 2015 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics Championships held in Doha.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The need for information regarding running-specific prosthetic properties has previously been voiced. Such information is necessary to assist in athletes' prostheses selection.
Objectives: This study aimed to describe the characteristics of two commercially available running-specific prostheses.
Objective: This study investigated bone mineral density (BMD, g/cm), fat mass (FM, kg), and fat-free soft tissue mass (FFSTM, kg) in Paralympic athletes with cerebral palsy (CP) using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry.
Methods: Bone mineral density, BMD Z scores (standard deviations), FM, and FFSTM were measured for the whole body and at the lumbar spine, femoral neck, and total hip sites on both nonaffected and affected sides of 6 athletes with hemiplegic CP.
Results: There were no differences between nonaffected and affected sides with respect to site-specific BMD and BMD Z scores and FM.
Objective: This study investigated performance, neuromuscular characteristics, and fatigue in Paralympic athletes with cerebral palsy (CP) during a maximal explosive performance trial, compared with well-trained, sprint-specific able-bodied athletes.
Design: Six Paralympic athletes with hemiplegic CP and 12 able-bodied athletes performed one 40-m sprint test (in seconds) and Vertical Jump Tests off both legs (in centimeters), the affected leg individually (in centimeters), and the nonaffected leg individually (in centimeters) before and after an adapted Multistage Shuttle Run Test to exhaustion. Electromyography of five bilateral muscles was measured for mean amplitude (percentage maximum activation).
Unlabelled: The Paralympic Games have undergone many changes since their inception in 1960, one being the advances made in running-specific prostheses (RSPs) for track athletes with lower-limb amputations.
Purpose: To investigate the sprinting-performance changes in athletes with lower-limb amputations since 1992 to assess whether the influence of developments in RSP technology is evident.
Methods: The results of the Olympic and Paralympic Games ranging between 1992 and 2012 for the 100-m and 200-m were collected, and performance trends, percentage change in performance, and competition density (CD) were calculated.
Objective: This study investigated the sprint cycling performance and neuromuscular characteristics of Paralympic athletes with cerebral palsy (CP) during a fatiguing maximal cycling trial compared with those of able-bodied (AB) athletes.
Design: Five elite athletes with CP and 16 AB age- and performance-matched controls performed a 30-sec Wingate cycle test. Power output (W/kg) and fatigue index (%) were calculated.