Cycling Mechanics Following A Four-week Rehabilitation Program For Tactical Athletes

SOCOM Service Members (SSM) are athletes that undergo continuous physical and mental training to prepare for highly sensitive missions. Mid-career SSM may have accumulated multiple injuries throughout their tenure, which can negatively impact physical performance and psychological state. The Special Forces Operators Performance and Recovery (SPaR) program is a 4-week outpatient program designed to help SSM rehabilitate and optimize physical, physiological, and psychological performance. Assessments of SPaR participants are performed upon entering and exiting the program. PURPOSE: Examine the biomechanical effects of a four-week rehabilitation program on a graded cycling test. METHODS: Forty participants were asked to perform a modified graded cycling exercise test in which the resistance at each stage is governed by the participant’s heart rate with each stage lasts for three minutes. Participants performed the cycling protocol on a bike adjusted to each rider with resistance for each stage controlled via electromagnetic flywheel (Velotron; SRAM, Chicago, IL, USA). Participants performed each test at their own self-selected cadence. Pedal forces (PowerForce, Freiburg, Germany) was collected during a minute within each stage at a frequency of 1000 Hz. Pedaling data was bandpass filtered with an upper and lower frequency of 500 Hz and 20 Hz, respectively. All pedaling cycles were averaged together. Force asymmetry represents the percent difference between resultant forces produced by each limb, and work asymmetry was the difference between mean resultant forces produced by each limb. A repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance was used to compare average cadence, stage resistance achieved, force asymmetry, and work asymmetry pre and post SPaR program. RESULTS: Cycling performance improved following the SPaR program (p = 0.003). Average cadence increased (76.8 ± 3 rpm vs 84 ± 3 rpm; p = 0.029), while there was no difference in stage resistance achieved (225 ± 7 W vs 232.5 ± 7 W; p = 0.220), work asymmetry (5.34 ± 0.6% vs 5.11 ± 0.6%; p = 0.729) and force asymmetry (4.30 ± 0.5% vs 4.50 ± 0.5%; p = 0.712). CONCLUSION: Cycling cadence increased following a four-week rehabilitation program, but other cycling mechanics did not change.