Express-evaluation of the psycho-physiological condition of Paralympic athletes

Alexander Drozdovski,¹ Irina Gromova,² Konstantin Korotkov,¹ Oleg Shelkov,¹ Femi Akinnagbe<sup>3

1</sup>Saint Petersburg Federal Research Institute of Physical Culture and Sport, St Petersburg, Russia; ²Paralympic Team of Russia, Moscow, Russia; ³Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA

Objective: Evaluation of elite athletes’ psycho-physiological condition at various stages of preparation and in international competition.
Design: Athletes were tested during training and participation in international competition using methods of galvanic skin response (GSR) and gas discharge visualization (GDV).
Setting: Saint Petersburg Federal Research Institute of Physical Culture and Sport, Russia and Paralympic athletic training camp, Norway.
Participants: Eighteen athletes from Russia’s Skiing and Biathlon Paralympic Team. All athletes had some level of damage to their musculoskeletal system.
Main outcome measures: Stress level (SL), energy potential (EP), and psycho-emotional tension (PET).
Results: It was found that the higher the level of EP achieved by the athlete in the training period, the lower the SL in the competition time. The SL of an athlete recorded in the training period significantly correlates with the SL both before and at the time of competition. The PET and SL before the World Cup was negatively correlated to the results of skiing competitions.
Conclusion: Evaluation of PET, EP, and SL through GSR and GDV offers a fast, highly precise, non-invasive method to assess an athlete’s level of readiness during both training and at the time of competition.

Keywords: paralympic sport, express-analysis, galvanic skin response (GSR), gas discharge visualization (GDV)