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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: Adaptive sports programs are increasing across the country and there is a paucity of research investigating the epidemiology and sports injury risk factors in non-elite athletes.
OBJECTIVEPRIMARY OBJECTIVE: To assess the demographics, training regime, and injuries incurred by adaptive athletes participating in local adaptive sports clubs. SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: To assess the athletes' type of medical care and prevalence of those with spasticity.
DESIGN: Descriptive, cross-sectional study. SETTING: Local area adaptive sports teams and programs PARTICIPANTS: A total of 61 athletes participating in wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby, sled hockey, and adaptive rowing were surveyed with a response rate of 70.5%. INTERVENTIONS: Completion of self-report survey MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: Report of injury prevalence, injury characteristics, type of medical care, and assessment of frequency and severity of spasticity using the Penn Spasm Frequency Scale.
RESULTS: The majority (86%) of athletes trained or competed in their main sport 9-12 months per year. Most athletes (79.1%) trained 4 or more hours/week. In the last 12 months, 39.5% of athletes surveyed sustained an injury that required them to miss practice or a competition with 58.8% of these athletes having sustained a significant injury. Many (64.7%) of those injured had never participated in an injury prevention/conditioning program. Injury prevalence by sport was 42.9% in wheelchair rugby, 60% in sled hockey, 44% wheelchair basketball, and 0% in adaptive rowing. The most commonly injured body parts were the shoulder (52.9%) and wrist (52.9%).
CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that non-elite adaptive sports athletes sustained similar types of injuries noted in published reports of elite athletes, but may be provided less injury prevention education and access to medical care. This area will require future study especially investigating injury risk factors within specific sports and diagnoses.
Copyright © 2018 American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Language: en |