Inter-Segmental Coordination of the Swimming Start among Paralympic Swimmers: A Comparative Study between S9, S10, and S12 Swimmers

The swimming start, which involves interactions with both water and air, has predominantly been studied primarily in terms of spatio-temporal parameters, while its motor control aspects have received limited attention. This study aims to investigate and compare the coordination patterns between the arm and trunk, as well as the thigh and trunk, in S9, S10, and S12 Paralympic swimmers using the continuous relative phase. The study included twenty-one Paralympic swimmers, and the results showed significant differences (p < 0.05) from spm1d (ANOVA) in both arm-trunk and thigh-trunk CRP among the three classes of swimmers. Significant differences were observed in the arm-trunk CRP during the initial (0–8% of time) and end (30–41% of time) parts of the block phase. Both of these two differences are from the comparison of S10 and S12. The thigh-trunk CRP also showed significant differences at the end of the block phase (35–41% of time) and during the flight phase before entry (58–61% of time). Significant differences were observed in post hoc tests between S9 and S10 and between S12 and S10 for the first significant difference. The second significant difference was found between S12 and S10. The results indicate that Paralympic swimmers classified as S9, S10, and S12 tend to exhibit distinct inter-segmental coordination patterns during the dive start. By recognizing different patterns of motor coordination, coaches and trainers can develop individualized training methods to optimize the start performance for swimmers with different impairments (different classifications) and maximize their competitive potential.