Investigation of the biomotoric features, some altitude dependent hormonal levels and blood parameters of tandem (Paragliding) athletes

The aim of this study is to examine the biomotoric characteristics, altitude-related blood parameters and some hormone levels of tandem-paragliding pilots acutely and chronically. Eighteen professional athletes aged 20 and over participated in the study. Statistical calculations were made in SPSS (version 22.0). Shapiro-Wilk test was used to find out whether the data were normally distributed or not. When the pre-flight and post-flight test data were analyzed acutely, and the test data at the beginning of the season and at the end of the season (4 months) were examined, Paired Sample T Test and Wilcoxon test methods were used according to normality distributions in repeated measurements to determine the changes that occurred during this period. To compare the effect of period differences, the (paired) t-test was used for normally distributed variables for dependent samples, and the Wilcoxon rank test for non-normal ones. Pearson Correlation analysis was conducted to determine whether there is a relationship between age, tandem (paragliding) experience and number of flights during the season, and blood and hormone values. Significance level was accepted as p<0.05. Significant increases were found in the values of back strength, left hand grip strength and leg strength after 4 months of studies. In the acute and chronic examination of hematological parameters, significant changes were detected in many parameters of erythrocyte, thrombocyte, leukocytes and subgroups, while no significant difference was found in some of them. While no significant difference was observed acutely in insulin, cortisol and TSH hormone levels, it was determined that there were significant decreases in end-season post-flight insulin levels and pre-season pre-flight cortisol hormone levels in the evaluation of chronic effects. When the acute effect of heart rate (HR) data is examined, the end-of-season post-flight values show a significant increase compared to the pre-flight values, while in the chronic process, there are significant decreases in the end-of-season pre-flight values compared to the pre-season values. According to the acute evaluation of systolic and diastolic blood pressure data, a significant increase was observed in the end-of-season post-flight values compared to the pre-flight values. According to the acute evaluation of systolic and diastolic blood pressure data, a significant increase was observed in the end-of-season post-flight values compared to the pre-flight values. In the chronic process, significant decreases were found in the pre-flight diastolic blood pressure values at the end of the season compared to the pre-flight values at the beginning of the season. In the comparison made to determine which period had the greatest effect, it was seen that the differences between the values of the variables measured before and after the flight in the chronic exercise process had higher scores than the differences between the values of the pre-flight and post-flight variables measured in the acute exercise period. With these results, it has been determined that the degree of effect of the chronic exercise process is greater than the acute exercise process. As a result, significant differences were found in biomotoric features, cortisol and insulin levels due to chronic flight exercise. Significant differences were found in both acute and chronic exercise periods in blood parameters and cardiovascular parameters. It is thought that the results obtained in the examined parameters can be a source for future studies.