Classification of Athletes
Who Use Wheelchairs
Athletes with conditions such as spinal cord injuries,
spina bifida, poliomyelitis, and other physical disabilities are
placed into one of eight classes based upon the level of injury/insult and
the resulting muscle function. The following
brief description of the eight-class system was modified from the IPC web
site (http://www.paralympic.org);
click on "sports," then "classification," then "athletes with spinal cord
lesion, spina bifida, and polio."
|
Class |
Brief Description |
| 1A |
Lower cervical
lesions between C4 and C6 with involvement of all four limbs.
Non-functional triceps. |
| 1B |
Lower cervical
lesions (up to C7) with involvement of all four limbs. Triceps good
or normal. Poor flexion and extension of the wrist. |
| 1C |
Lower cervical
lesions (up to C8) with involvement of all four limbs. Triceps good
or normal. Good or normal function of wrist extensors and flexors.
Poor functioning of the small muscles of the hand. |
| 2 |
Thoracic lesions
from T1 to T5. Involvement of the trunk and lower extremities. No
use of abdominal muscles. No sitting balance. |
| 3 |
Thoracic lesions
from T6 to T10. Involvement of the abdomen and lower extremities.
Good upper abdominal muscles. No use of lower abdominal muscles. No
use of lower trunk extensors. Slight capacity to maintain sitting
balance. |
| 4 |
Thoracic and lumbar
lesions from T6 to T10. Involvement of the lower extremities. Good
spina dorsal abdominal muscles and extensors. Fair hip flexors and
abductors. Good sitting balance. |
| 5 |
Lumbar lesion at L4
or L5. Involvement of the lower extremities. Good sitting balance.
Good abdominal muscles. |
| 6 |
Sacrum lesion from
S1 to S3, involvement of one lower extremity or slight involvement
of both lower extremities. |
As mentioned earlier, classification judgments depend
in part upon muscle function. Athletes must have at least 10% loss of lower
limb function to be eligible for competition. The loss of
muscle function is assessed in both the right and left legs using a scale of 0 to
5 points within each of eight muscle groups: hip flexors, hip adductors, hip abductors, hip
extensors, knee flexors, knee extensors, ankle dorsi flexors, and ankle plantar flexors.
Muscle function is graded according to the following criteria:
