Montana State biomechanics students provide testing for para Nordic athletes

BOZEMAN - In a laboratory in Montana State University's Harrison Hall, biomechanics graduate student Isaac Burgess counts down from three before pressing a button to bring a large treadmill to a stop.

Ty Wiberg, a sophomore studying community health who is a para Nordic skiing athlete with the nearby Crosscut Mountain Sports Center team, had been double-poling - moving his two skiing poles in a parallel motion at the same time - to ski on the treadmill. Now, he slows his double-poling to mirror the speed of the treadmill. When it comes to a stop, Dr. Geoff Burns, a physiologist with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, steps onto the treadmill and takes a small blood sample from Wiberg's right ear to measure the athlete's blood lactate level, a common metric for evaluating muscle fatigue. He also records Wiberg's heart rate.

The whole exchange takes less than 30 seconds. Once Burns completes his work, he steps off the treadmill and Burgess restarts it, this time at a faster speed. For the next four minutes, Wiberg again double-poles on the treadmill before Burgess stops it so that Burns can record another round of measurements.

Wiberg's testing, which continued for about an hour, is part of the work of five MSU exercise science students who, under the guidance of associate professor James Becker, provided testing for nine para Nordic skiing athletes during the week of Feb. 19.

The students - three undergraduates and two graduate students - also assisted Burns with a study looking at how pole length influences the economy of sit skiers - or those who, like Wiberg, ski while sitting down in adaptive equipment.

Para Nordic skiing is an adaptation of Nordic skiing for athletes with disabilities. Along with testing for the para Nordic athletes on Crosscut's team, the students provided testing for athletes on the U.S. Paralympic team.

"This is a great example of service-research partnerships," said Becker, associate professor in the MSU Department of Food Systems, Nutrition and Kinesiology in the College of Education, Health and Human Development. "It's valuable to the team and provides information that's useful to them in training. For our students, it's great because they're able to apply what they're learning in class in a laboratory setting, and they receive hands-on research experience.

"The students are also getting to interact with and learn from the national team coaching staff and (U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee) sports science staff that are visiting for the week," Becker added. "Plus, they get to interact and learn from this highly accomplished group of para athletes, who between them have dozens of Paralympic medals."

Gary Colliander, a paralympic coach with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, explained that the tests being conducted on Wiberg and other athletes are called submaximal - or submax - tests. These tests can predict an athlete's aerobic capacity, basically seeing how efficient they are while exercising. It provides insight into how much the athlete is relying on aerobic or anaerobic systems for energy.

"If he's able to operate at a higher speed with lower heart rates (from the last time he was tested), it shows us that his fitness is better," Colliander said.

Burns noted that the information can also help the athletes and coaches determine different zones to aim for in training.

"Having the heart rate measured in a controlled setting allows us to prescribe better training plans," Burns said. Seeing the correlation between lactate and heart rate can help coaches target which heart rates to aim for in training, based on their goals for that session. Heart rate levels can be easily monitored during training, but blood lactate levels are usually not measured during on-snow training, he added.

Burgess, a first-year master's degree student pursuing a degree in exercise science and nutrition with a focus on biomechanics, said he enjoys the hands-on work in the lab.

"You figure stuff out here," he said. "If you make a mistake, you try again." He added that the process is similar to work in industry, and he'd like to pursue a job in research and development after earning his degree.

Becker said he and the students have been conducting testing for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Team a couple of times a year, as well as testing for the U.S. Biathlon national team. They also routinely conduct similar testing in the MSU lab for local skiers and runners. The treadmill on which much of the testing is conducted will move to the new Exercise and Nutrition Sciences research laboratory space in the new Student Wellness Center when it opens, Becker added. He noted that the new space will open additional availability for this type of testing for members of the community who are avid skiers or runners.

As an athlete, Wiberg called the testing opportunity with the MSU students "fantastic."

"It really allows you to see, numbers-wise, that you're getting more fit," he said. "It's really encouraging."

He added that he felt great doing the test.

"Seeing today that I'm more fit than last time I did this testing helps me know the training is working," he said. "It really allows me to trust the training plan."