The Impact of the Progressive Efficiency Test on a RowingErgometer on White Blood Cells Distributionand Clinical Chemistry Changes in Paralympic RowersDuring the Preparatory Stage Beforethe Paralympic Games in Rio, 2016 – A Case Report

There is a large gap in knowledge regarding research on post-exercise blood changes in disabled athletes. Thereare relatively few data on adaptive mechanisms to exercise in disabled athletes, including disabled rowers. Two rowersfrom a Polish adaptive rowing settle TAMix2x that qualified for the Paralympic Games in Rio, 2016 took part in thisstudy. They performed a progressive test on a rowing ergometer until exhaustion. The cardiorespiratory fitnessmeasures, complete blood count, white blood cells’ distribution and 30 clinical chemistry variables describing laboratorydiagnostic profiles and general health were determined. The extreme effort induced changes in all studied metabolites(glucose, creatinine, urea, uric acid, total and direct bilirubin), albumin, total protein levels in both participants.Furthermore, a post-exercise increase in aspartate transaminase activity, yet a 2-fold decrease during the recovery timein both rowers were found. White blood cell count increased 2-fold after the test. The percentages of natural killer cellswere higher and total T lymphocytes were lower after the exercise protocol. There were higher percentages ofsuppressor/cytotoxic and lower percentages of helper/inducer T lymphocyte subsets in both studied rowers. No changesin B lymphocytes distribution were observed. Lack of inflammatory symptoms during the experiment suggests a highlevel of rowers’ biological adaptation to the physical effort. The different changes in physiological, biochemical andimmunological variables are related to the adaptive mechanism to physical exercise allowing for improvement ofperformance.