Innovation

Adaptive sports are rethinking the way people with physical, sensory or cognitive disabilities play and compete, opening doors for more athletes to enjoy a wide variety of sports. These recreational and competitive activities are modified or even specifically designed to accommodate people with a variety of disabilities in everything from tennis and softball to hockey and soccer.

Adaptive sports use specialized equipment, altered rules, or different playing formats to ensure everyone can participate fully and safely.

The rise of adaptive sports

Adaptive sports are transforming lives across communities, offering athletes with disabilities the chance to compete, excel, and push beyond what many thought possible. These modified versions of traditional sports — including entirely new activities designed for specific abilities — have exploded in popularity over the past few decades. What makes adaptive sports so powerful isn't just the competition itself, but how they serve as cornerstones for physical fitness and rehabilitation. Athletes discover strength they didn't know they had, rebuild confidence and find pathways to wellness that extend far beyond the playing field. The movement represents something beautiful: sport as a universal language that adapts to meet us wherever we are.

The evolution of adaptive sports programs

The journey of adaptive sports programs tells a story of persistence, innovation, and changing perspectives on disability. Starting primarily as rehabilitation tools in military hospitals during World War II, these programs have evolved into sophisticated competitive frameworks that rival any traditional sport.

Early adaptive sports foundations focused mainly on wheelchair basketball and swimming, but today's landscape includes everything from sit-skiing to wheelchair rugby to visually impaired soccer. Each adaptive sports program now emphasizes not just participation, but excellence and athletic achievement. The shift has been profound, from viewing disability through a medical lens to celebrating diverse abilities and competitive spirit.

Modern programs recognize that adaptive athletes aren't just participating in modified versions of "real" sports; they're pioneering entirely new forms of athletic expression that often demand skills and strategies beyond their traditional counterparts.

How does UC Health support adaptive sports?

UC Health has a unique partnership with the University of Cincinnati’s Adaptive Athletics Program. Started in 2024, UC’s program currently includes adaptive tennis and track and field for student athletes with lower limb disabilities. As a growing national adaptive sports hub, UC Health provides medical support and physical therapy to the athletes, plus assistance with their equipment.

UC Health’s Victoria Heasley, MD, is a physician at the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute, specializing in sports medicine, non-operative orthopedic care, musculoskeletal physical medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R), and adaptive sports medicine. She is also a co-founder of the UC Adaptive Athletics program and serves as the team physician. 

Heasley operates an adaptive sports medicine clinic once a month for adaptive athletes of all ages and skill levels. As both a physician and biomedical engineer, she helps design and create customized sports equipment for each patient, sometimes with the help of students in the senior-level capstone biomedical engineering course she teaches at the University of Cincinnati.

Success stories: inspiring athletes

Adaptive sports are integral to creating community for athletes with disabilities. At The Bridge Adaptive Sports & Recreation in Cincinnati, young Tony has found joy in participating in cerebral palsy soccer.

“The minute he hit that field, he felt a sense of belonging, where he fit in, and you could see a change in him before your eyes," his mother recalls.

Since then, Tony has embraced a variety of sports participating in events like the Soar Expo, Top Soccer Fall Classic, and the Toca Adaptive Soccer Clinic.

From wheelchair tennis to sitting volleyball, adaptive sports are gaining more athletes

Adaptive sports are nearly as far-ranging and varied as the broader world of sports. From weightlifting to swimming to fencing, and sailing to archery to sit volleyball, adaptive sports take place on land, in water, in arenas and on courts around the world.

Some of the most popular adaptive sports are wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby and sled hockey. Tens of thousands of people participate in adaptive sports in the United States, and 225 athletes were members of Team U.S.A at the 2024 Paralympics in Paris.

Like their historical counterparts, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby and sled hockey are all grounded in their respective sports. The key differences are in the use of adaptive equipment (like rounder balls instead of oval-shaped balls in wheelchair rugby), and some changes to rules.

For instance, in sled hockey games players sit on specially designed sleds with two blades and use two sticks with metal picks to propel themselves, pass, and shoot the puck. The game follows most of the same rules as traditional ice hockey. The primary difference is the use of sleds and sticks with picks instead of skates.

And just like other sports, adaptive sports like wheelchair basketball offer a host of physical, mental and social benefits. Physically, it improves upper body strength, cardiovascular health and coordination. Mentally, it boosts confidence, focus, and resilience, and can reduce feelings of anxiety and depression. Socially, adaptive sports programs promote inclusion and build relationships within a supportive community.

The evolving role of technology and equipment in adaptive sports

UC Health helps to fit patients with wheelchairs or braces after they’ve had a stroke or following a debilitating impairment or diagnosis. The overall goal is to increase independence. Patients with multiple sclerosis also sometimes benefit from adaptive equipment.

“For adaptive sports, it’s not like you can go to Walmart and buy a baseball glove off the shelf. We'll help design something or we'll modify existing equipment, create something from scratch or work with any combination,” says Dr. Heasley.

Every patient is different, so each piece of equipment needs to be designed or modified to meet their specific needs. The equipment design process can take time, as each version is tested by the athlete and the team at the adaptive sports clinic makes adjustments until they find the perfect fit. Some of the sports equipment they’ve helped design include power soccer, sled hockey, adaptive skiing and adaptive archery.

“I think my favorite part of my career is when I get to literally hand them something that I was helping design and then I get to see them do whatever sport or whatever activity it is,” Heasley says. “My patients always say something similar to, ‘Wow, I never thought I could do this ever again.’ Or ‘I never thought this was possible.’ And then I get to see them actually do it, and I think that's what keeps me going.”

Patients at the adaptive sports clinic range from professional wheelchair basketball players to people who are brand new to adaptive sports and looking to increase their physical activity. While these athletes can go to traditional sports medicine clinics for something like a wrist sprain or shoulder injury, the adaptive spots clinic provides more comprehensive, multidisciplinary care. The right adaptive equipment is key to injury prevention.

Unlike providers in most other sports clinics, physicians, physical therapists and engineers at the adaptive sports clinic are all specifically trained to treat the unique needs of adaptive sports athletes.

For example, adaptive sports athletes are more prone to overuse injuries because athletes often rely on specific body parts to compete. Wheelchair athletes have a higher risk of rotator cuff tendinopathy and carpal tunnel syndrome. Improper fit or poor maintenance of adaptive equipment can lead to injury too. Athletes with specific disabilities like spinal cord injuries can experience challenges with body temperature control and can also be susceptible to conditions like autonomic dysreflexia, a potentially dangerous increase in blood pressure.

“Unfortunately for adaptive athletes, research shows that they don't know where to go to get care,” says Dr. Heasley. “Sports medicine and primary care physicians are willing to see adaptive athletes, but they've never been trained in it. The adaptive sports clinic fills a huge gap in care.”

Community and support are key in adaptive sports

“A lot of my patients come to me because they are looking for a sense of community,” says Dr. Heasley. “They're looking for something other than physical therapy, and they want to find their people and find their connections.”

Channeling her passion for making adaptive sports more accessible to all, and recognizing that broader support is needed to make it happen, Dr. Heasley is a co-founder of The Bridge Adaptive Sports & Recreation. The not-for-profit serves as a hub to increase awareness and promote opportunity for individuals to participate in adaptive sports in Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana.

“The Bridge is the thing I’m most proud of, to be honest. I have loved seeing it grow over the past five years. It’s incredibly rewarding to help connect people from the adaptive sports clinic at UC to sports at The Bridge, help design equipment for them, and treat their sports-related injuries to they can get back to doing what they love,” says Dr. Heasley.

Organizations that support adaptive sports are rapidly growing too. The Invictus Games are an international adaptive multi-sport event for wounded, injured, and sick service personnel and veterans. Achilles International is an adaptive sports organization that has served 150,000 people with disabilities who turn to the organization for support and access to adaptive running, swimming and triathlons.

Underscoring the community-centered nature of adaptive sports, Dr. Heasley says, “Adaptive sports are for anyone. It doesn’t have to be someone with a physical disability. This could be for someone that wants to learn athletic training skills or learn what adaptive sports are or play alongside their friend or maybe they want to learn about it because a family member is affected.”

The future of adaptive sports

Adaptive sports are exploding in their accessibility and reach with the help of new innovations and more athletes of all ages and abilities finding sports that fit their passion and interests. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are predicted to become more important in adaptive sports. They’ll help to provide personalized training programs; rehabilitation plans and performance analytics tailored to individual athletes’ needs. Advancements in 3D printing are expected to continue to help personalized adaptive equipment grow by leaps and bounds.

“I think the future of adaptive sports medicine is to increase research in the field so we can help prevent injuries and help design equipment that also helps prevent overuse injuries for these athletes. The adaptive sports movement is also hoping to increase education to our sports medicine clinicians, so everyone can have the tools and education to be able to treat adaptive athletes. It is amazing to see the field growing as well as the number of adaptive athletes and opportunities expanding, but we need to ensure that these athletes can have access to medical care,” says Dr. Heasley.

Boundless possibilities and personalized pathways

At UC Health, innovation isn’t just about treatment, it’s about expanding what’s possible. Whether you're navigating a new diagnosis, exploring new possibilities years after injury, or simply seeking to do more of what makes you feel alive — our team is here to support your goals with advanced care and personalized strategies. 

Through the expertise of the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute, we’re advancing adaptive sports and performance programs that empower people to rediscover movement, connection, and the activities they love.

If our team can support you or your loved one, call the University of Cincinnati Gardner Neuroscience Instituate at 866-941-8264 to schedule an appointment.