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Wheelchair Softball

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Adaptive Sports Medicine

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Abstract

Adaptive sports are athletic events developed for participants with physical, visual, and/or cognitive impairments. These impairments are divided into different disability groups and include athletes with spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy, congenital malformations, amputations, stroke, traumatic brain injury, visual impairments, and intellectual impairments, among many other conditions. Adaptive sports are gaining in popularity throughout the world. It is approximated that on a global scale, one in six people are disabled. In the United States, there are greater than three million people with either physical or cognitive disabilities who participate in organized sports. Sports for the physically impaired athlete are numerous and include wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby, wheelchair softball, 7-a-side soccer, and sled hockey, among many others. Adaptive sports are competitive and athletic, played with just as much fervor and passion as traditional sports for able-bodied athletes. Therefore, the potential for displays of athleticism, as well as the potential for injury, are comparable to traditional sports.

In this chapter, we will discuss wheelchair softball and all its attributes. This discussion will include the classification process for its athletes, rules of play, equipment considerations, biomechanical considerations of throwing and hitting in a wheelchair, and injuries and injury prevention. It is our intention that studying this chapter will provide the reader with in-depth knowledge of wheelchair softball, including all facets of the game and its medical considerations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY, USA

    Daniel H. Blatz

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  1. Daniel H. Blatz
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Correspondence to Daniel H. Blatz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Mayo Clinic Arizona, Scottsdale, AZ, USA

    Arthur Jason De Luigi

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Blatz, D.H. (2023). Wheelchair Softball. In: De Luigi, A.J. (eds) Adaptive Sports Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44285-8_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44285-8_17

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-44284-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-44285-8

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