Impact of confinement by Covid-19 on physical activity and sports performance in people with disabilities. Topic review

Abstract

The COVID-19 disease is a worldwide problem that has led governmental agencies to create drastic strategies to mitigate the spread of the virus, limiting doing sports and physical activity for athletes with disabilities, forcing them to modify their sports training and face new challenges, which in the long term will influence their sports performance. The objective of this article is to document the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on physical activity, performance in adapted sports athletes, and recreational activity in people with disabilities. A bibliographic search was conducted in electronic databases including SCOPUS, Scielo, Science direct, ClinicalKey, Google academic, Springer Nature Journals: they are related to physical activity and sports in people with disabilities in pandemic times, finding that the confinement has led to alterations in the adaptations of physical abilities of athletes with disabilities worldwide. This evidenced necessary adequate planning to a progressive return to sports, to avoid injuries and physical maladaptation. It is recommended that to avoid physical deconditioning associated with social isolation, it is important to establish different alternatives related to physical activity. This allows progress beyond the barriers established by the current situation. Maintaining physical fitness and sports performance is a challenge for athletes with disabilities.