Groundbreaking research at the University of Queensland has found performance-focused sports training improves clinical outcomes for people with severe disabilities. The competitive swimming program developed by UQ for young people with severe cerebral palsy has reversed motor decline associated with the condition. They now hope to implement the program across Australia.
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00:00Nate Woolgar was never a big lover of the pool.
00:05Before this program I could not swim at all.
00:08But now he's hunting new personal bests and is a frequent swimmer at competitions.
00:13Nice work, big deep breaths.
00:17It is a really big portion of my life and I do really enjoy coming here and I don't
00:25see myself slowing down any time soon.
00:27The 23-year-old has been a pilot participant of the University of Queensland's ParaStart
00:32research program for young people with severe cerebral palsy.
00:37We started with three participants, we're now at 27 participants and we have a 0% dropout
00:45rate.
00:46They were given a competitive swimming program designed for para-athletes.
00:50This includes 2-3 pool sessions, strength, diet and sleep training.
00:56We measured our participants' gross motor function at the time they were enrolled and
01:01our participants, if they'd just maintained their gross motor function that would have
01:05been a positive outcome, but actually our participants improved gross motor function.
01:11The benefits aren't just physical.
01:13The social connections, the independence, so getting here on his own, getting all his
01:18gear sorted, his safety etc, it's life changing.
01:24Data was collected over four years, now researchers hope to expand.
01:30We think that there's a real prospect that findings that we've got with such strong science
01:35behind it, we're in a position to really change practice, how people with cerebral palsy are
01:40managed across Australia.
01:43Sport has a lot of therapeutic benefits.