In the winter Alpine events, those who are handicapped with both legs such as spinal paraplegics, cervical paralysis, both legs paralysis, the legs mutilated, etc cannot wear skiing board slide with a chair ski. It is operated with outriggers instead of using ski sticks, which a skiing player has in hand then. While turning, especially the work of outriggers is important. It was investigated into how well trained athletes (32 chair ski players) in the Japan Paralympics in 2003 felt the work with the outriggers. As a result, those players overwhelmingly cared about the angle and weight of the outriggers and all of them agreed the importance of the outriggers. However, in spite of their having been interested in the performance of the outriggers, there were many players who did not understand the importance of the angle and weight of the outriggers. A difference of the recognition of the usage of the outriggers depended on degrees of disability. Only, moderate and severe physically disable players significantly recognized the importance of the weight of the out-riggers. In addition, we found that all players focused on balance of mobility and stability within the body by using the outriggers as they turned. The outriggers were intentionally used for maintaining the balance of the body. Therefore, this study shows that the necessity of using the outriggers is very important as the players turn.

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Introduction/Purpose: This paper reports results from a study conducted to establish a Greek version of the Test of Performance Strategies (TOPS), by Thomas, Murphy and Hardy (1999), for athletes with physical disability. Methods: The following steps were followed: a) bi-directional translation b) commentary by specialist athletic psychologists as well as by athletes with physical disability. Moreover, stability over time and structural validity were examined. Results: Test-retest correlations ranged from .83 to .98 and few cross loadings emerged when items of all possible pairs of factors were factor analysed. Conclusion: This version exhibited good internal consistency, temporal stability and structural validity. However the pattern of relations between the subscales was different than that of Thomas et al. Further, use of skills in practice was not related to the use of skills in competition.

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A boy with mental retardation, aged 10, was included in regular physical education (PE) classes of the same age group involving volleyball games. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the interpersonal friction occurring in inclusive physical education, and the solution achieved for it at the time by time sampling. Children without mental retardation showed the 'urge' (35%), 'act together' (11%), 'give them space' (10%), and 'be acceptant' (8%). When the child with mental retardation went out on the volleyball court and were unable to play volleyball, children without mental retardation encouraged them to serve the ball and play together. When the child with mental retardation became mischievous with the other to gain attention, the children without mental retardation backed off. When the child with mental retardation intentionally threw or hit the ball at a place nobody was at, the children without mental retardation reacted by changing their position to cover and be where the ball might come. These results showed that Children without mental retardation learned from the interpersonal friction they experienced how to get along in inclusive physical education with mutual understanding.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between regular exercise habit and mental health in parents of individuals with intellectual disabilities (mental retardation). This study included 99 parents of individuals with intellectual disabilities. Regular exercise habit was measured by the stages of change scale for exercise behavior (Oka et al., 2000), and depression-anxiety score that is a part of the Stress Response Scale (SRS-18; Suzuki et al., 1997) was assessed as a measure of mental health. A cross-sectional design was employed for the present study. Independent t tests were performed with regular exercise habit as the independent variable and depression-anxiety score as the dependent variable for all participants or each gender. Based on the t tests, no significant difference in mental health due to the exercise habit was observed between mothers; however, significant tendencies were observed between all participants and between fathers. In conclusion, the results partially support the relationship between regular exercise habit and mental health. This study provides valuable information for supporting individuals with intellectual disabilities and their families.

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Walking while lifting the knee above the normal height (knee-up walking) might improve and maintain muscular strength in the lower limbs, which is effective in the elderly to prevent falls. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of knee height during knee-up walking on walking pattern and its subjective usefulness. Twenty-two older subjects walked at their own pace in four different conditions of maximum knee height (H: thigh level to the ground, L: about 5cm above normal, M: between H and L, N: usual walking). The speed, step length, cadence, and form during walking were measured, and subjective mobility and exertion were assessed after walking. Walking speed and cadence were significantly lower in the H condition than other conditions, although there were no significant differences in the step length. In the H condition, awkward walking (swinging both arms and both legs in the same direction, or small swinging of the arms) and unstable walking were observed. Furthermore, the H condition showed significantly higher subjective difficulty and exertion than the others. In contrast, M and L conditions showed almost similar walking pattern and subjective usefulness as the N condition. In conclusion, these results suggest that the H condition involves a high risk of unstable standing and falling during walking, but M and L conditions can be safely performed in daily life in the elderly.

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