An Incremental Shuttle Wheel Test for Wheelchair Tennis Players

To determine 1) the relationship between shuttle wheel test (SWT) outcomes and peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) during that test; and 2) whether SWT and VO2peak can discriminate between different skill levels of wheelchair tennis players. 15 wheelchair tennis players performed a SWT on a tennis court while VO2 was measured continuously. Outcome measures were VO2peak and achieved stage. Relations between outcomes and Dutch wheelchair tennis ranking were calculated with Spearman correlation. Independent t-tests were used to test for differences between national and international players. Moderate correlations were found between VO2peak and SWT outcome (r=.40-.47). The tennis ranking correlated weakly with VO2peak (r=-.35) and strongly with SWT outcomes (r=-.80). A significant difference was found between national and international players for achieved stage (p=0.027) and VO2peak (p=0.027). The SWT outcome only explained a small part of the variance in VO2peak between players, hence it cannot be considered as a valid test for aerobic capacity. However, SWT outcomes are related to the skill level of the player and give a good indication of the overall peak wheelchair performance.