An Italian study of 25 men aged between 18 and 40 with SMA or DMD investigated the effects of playing wheelchair hockey on quality of life, well-being and coping skills.
The results of this study show that:
- this sport would have a positive impact on well-being;
- the quality of life score is improved by 4.4 points for people practicing this adapted sport compared to the control group;
- the improvement mainly concerns overall (+5.79 points) and psychological (+5.74 points) health;
- physical performance is perceived as better;
- self-confidence is not significantly altered;
- stress coping strategies are not improved.
This study offers additional arguments to show the interest of adapted sports in addition to routine care.