The term “adaptive sports” is used to describe a sport that has either been adapted specifically for persons with a disability or created specifically for persons with a disability. For persons with physical disabilities, organized sports can be traced back to the early 1900s. However, opportunities expanded greatly in the post-World War II era, when adaptive sports began to be used for rehabilitation of Veterans. Many of the early programs were in downhill skiing but the range of available sports and opportunities for participation at all levels, from recreational to competitive, has broadened greatly.

Within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the vision of the National Veteran Sports Programs and Special Events (NVSP&SE) office is “to be leaders in the provision of adaptive sports and therapeutic arts programs that complement VA’s rehabilitation system of care for Veterans and members of the Armed Forces with disabilities.” The national rehabilitation events are intended to “provide opportunities for Veterans to improve their independence, well-being, and quality of life through adaptive sports and therapeutic arts programs.”

The purpose of this report is to systematically review the available evidence on the benefits and harms of adaptive sports participation and the barriers to and facilitators of participation.

Contents

• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Executive Summary
  • Introduction
  • Methods
  • Results
  • Summary and Discussion
  • Abbreviations Table
• Introduction
• Methods
  • Topic Development
  • Search Strategy
  • Study Selection
  • Data Abstraction
  • Quality Assessment
  • Data Synthesis
  • Rating the Body of Evidence
  • Peer Review
• Results
  • Literature Flow
  • KEY QUESTION 1. What is the effectiveness of participation in adaptive sports programs among individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), limb amputation, hearing loss or deafness, multiple sclerosis (MS), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), spinal cord disorder, spinal cord injury (SCI), stroke/cerebrovascular accident (CVA), traumatic brain injury (TBI), or visual impairment or blindness?
  • KEY QUESTION 1A. Does the effectiveness vary by frequency/duration of adaptive sport program participation?
  • KEY QUESTION 1B. Do particular patient groups (ie, age range, gender, race, time since injury, time involved in adaptive sports, type and/or severity of disability) benefit more than others from adaptive sports participation?
  • KEY QUESTION 2. What are the potential harms of participation in adaptive sports programs among individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), limb amputation, hearing loss or deafness, multiple sclerosis (MS), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), spinal cord disorder, spinal cord injury (SCI), stroke/cerebrovascular accident (CVA), traumatic brain injury (TBI), or visual impairment or blindness?
  • KEY QUESTION 3. What are the known facilitators of and barriers to the participation in adaptive sports programs among individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), limb amputation, hearing loss or deafness, multiple sclerosis (MS), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), spinal cord disorder, spinal cord injury (SCI), stroke/cerebrovascular accident (CVA), traumatic brain injury (TBI), or visual impairment or blindness?
• Summary and Discussion
  • Summary of Evidence
  • Applicability of Findings to the VA Population
  • Limitations
  • Research Gaps/Future Research
  • Conclusions
• References
• APPENDIX A. Medline Search Strategy
• APPENDIX B. Criteria used in Quality Assessment
• APPENDIX C. Peer Review Comments/Author Responses
• APPENDIX D. Evidence Tables
• APPENDIX E. Quality Characteristics
• APPENDIX F. Motivators of Participation

Suggested citation:

Greer N, Balser D, McKenzie L, Nicholson H, MacDonald R, Rosebush C, Senk A, Tonkin B, Wilt, TJ. Adaptive Sports for Disabled Veterans. VA ESP Project #09-009; 2019. Posted final reports are located on the ESP search page.

This report is based on research conducted by the Evidence Synthesis Program (ESP) Center located at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, Minneapolis, MN, funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Health Services Research and Development. The findings and conclusions in this document are those of the author(s) who are responsible for its contents; the findings and conclusions do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States government. Therefore, no statement in this article should be construed as an official position of the Department of Veterans Affairs. No investigators have any affiliations or financial involvement (eg, employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties) that conflict with material presented in the report.