PONE-D-21-16314Sprint performance and force application of tennis players during manual wheelchair propulsion with and without holding a tennis racket.PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Alberca,

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Yih-Kuen Jan, PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Additional Editor Comments (if provided):

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Partly

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: I Don't Know

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

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Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #2: This study aimed to study the impact of holding a tennis racket while propelling a wheelchair on kinetic and temporal parameters in a field-based environment.

- The main concern of this study is: the sample size of 13 is very small to provide and generalize the findings.

- The main criteria of the study participants is not clarified in the abstract.

- The design of the study is not demonstrated.

- No clear message or recommendation is demonstrated in the abstract.

- Generally, the abstract needs to be rewritten.

- Introduction: The significance of the study needs more clarification.

- The authors should reframe the methods in accordance with components (SPICES) for methods

1. Study design, setting, sample size

2. Participant

3. Intervention/issue of interest (exposure)

4. Comparison

5. Ethics and endpoint

6. Statistical analysis

- How was sample size determined?

- How and who administrates the data collected?

Reviewer #3: The authors examined differences in hand rim propulsion biomechanics during a steady state sprint between wheelchair tennis athletes with or without a racket in hand. Overall, the study is well written and designed and parallels the structure of previous studies pertaining to the examination of every day propulsion biomechanics. Furthermore, the authors’ general interpretation of findings are reasonable(depending on how they answer comments below). I have only one moderate statistical concern and methodological comments which could be impactful to the overall picture of the study depending on how the authors respond. First, the authors have utilized paired analysis (parametric and non-parametric versions) however it’s unclear if they used a correction for multiple comparison. In essence, they may have conducted numerous independent paired tests (one for each dependent variable ?) which is problematic. If this is the case, they should divide alpha by the # of comparisons (bonferroni correction) or elect to use a multivariate test which has the benefit of auto correction and effect size calculation simultaneously. Finally, the authors state participants used their own manual chairs but didn’t report camber angle or more importantly specify(unless I missed this) if they were tennis chairs or everyday chairs. Tennis chairs typically have large amounts of camber which alters the interface or coupling of the hands with the handrim (hand and wrist angle). This could influence propulsion mechanics adaptability in the presence or absence of a racket. If the study was examined with everyday chairs lacking camber it presents a huge limitation which needs to be discussed. In fact it may be necessary to generalize results only to those using similar set ups. A final limitation would also include lack of control for or reporting of wheelchair configuration elements like rear wheel axle position, seat height, seat drop etc. These metrics are commonly used and exaggerated in tennis configurations which may offer athletes more resilience while holding a racket since they effect propulsion efficiency and trunk balance.

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Reviewer #2: Yes: Walid Kamal Abdelbasset

Reviewer #3: Yes: Ian M Rice

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Sprint performance and force application of tennis players during manual wheelchair propulsion with and without holding a tennis racket.

PONE-D-21-16314R1

Dear Dr. Alberca,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Yih-Kuen Jan, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Thanks to the authors,new topic , good article and analysis , the commebts have been addressed correctly

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed. No further comments are required. The publication could be published in the current form.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes: Walid Kamal Abdelbasset