The climb to the Kaunertaler glacier in Tyrol, Austria, is 20 kilometres long, with an elevation gain of 867 metres. “In terms of the level of the challenge, it’s comparable to Mont Ventoux or Alpe d’Huez,” says Sonja de Groot. “You have to train seriously for this.”
The HandbikeBattle was established in 2013 and has grown into an annual hand bike event for people with chronic disabilities such as spinal cord injuries. Thirteen rehabilitation centres participate with a team of former patients, who are supported in their training by therapists. The rehabilitation centres aim to motivate participants to adopt a more active lifestyle. “The idea is that it’s more motivating to train with a goal in mind,” explains De Groot. Besides the teams, there are also individual participants, such as people who have previously taken part through a rehabilitation centre.
Quality of life
Movement scientist Sonja de Groot has been involved in this event, as one of the initiators of the research, since its inception. Her colleague, movement scientist Ingrid Kouwijzer, joined in 2016 as a PhD candidate and now works as a postdoc on this project. They study the effects of training for the HandbikeBattle. De Groot explains: “This was a great way to see if the participants really became fitter, and whether their quality of life improved as a result, for example.”
The movement scientists assess the fitness of participants through an exertion test before they start training and just before the climb. Participants also complete questionnaires before, during and after the training period about their quality of life, among other things, and their training is monitored. De Groot says: “What’s unique about the research is that we now have a large dataset, thanks to the approximately 500 participants over the years. That gives us a lot of information.”
The results are positive: participants became fitter during the training period for the HandbikeBattle and maintained this effect afterwards. What’s more, there’s an improvement in quality of life associated with increased fitness. Kouwijzer explains: “You can see that people become fitter, which has all kinds of positive effects on their quality of life, self-image and self-confidence. It helps that they train with other former patients and under professional guidance, which provides motivation and results in relatively few people dropping out.”
Long term effects
In her PhD research, Kouwijzer followed participants up to a year after taking part. The majority of participants continue to exercise afterwards. “We see that taking part in the HandbikeBattle also has long-term positive effects. Quality of life not only increases during the training period, but also remains higher in the long term,” explains Kouwijzer. She also examined whether participants stayed fit afterwards. “There are people who continue to train, who see the HandbikeBattle as a starting point and are even fitter a year later. But we also see a group whose fitness slips back afterwards.”
One of the participants who remained active after the HandbikeBattle is Mitch Valize. He proved to be talented in handbiking and became a two-time Paralympic champion in Tokyo. He will compete again at the Paralympic Games in Paris. He is still involved in the HandbikeBattle and now rides up and down the mountain to encourage participants.
Kouwijzer and De Groot find the direct collaboration with rehabilitation professionals extremely valuable. “With good objective research, we can substantiate the importance of an active lifestyle for people with disabilities,” says Kouwijzer.
Furthermore, it’s motivating for them to see the participants grow throughout the process. Kouwijzer adds: “Participants are really different at the beginning of the training period compared to the start of the HandbikeBattle, both physically and mentally.” De Groot concludes: “You see what taking part does for people, and it’s very fulfilling to see the hand bikers surrounded by family and friends as they cross the finish line.”
