scholarly journals ‘I always considered I needed injury prevention to become an elite athlete’: the road to the Olympics from the athlete and staff perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. e001217
Author(s):  
Oriol Bonell Monsonís ◽  
Evert Verhagen ◽  
Jean-Francois Kaux ◽  
Caroline Bolling

In this study, we explored the perspectives about sports injury prevention of Belgium Olympic level athletes, coaches, managers and healthcare providers from various Olympic sports. We conducted a qualitative study, including 17 semistructured interviews. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed by two independent coders through constant comparative data analysis based on Grounded Theory principles. Our findings overview the athlete’s journey to becoming an elite athlete, and how an elite sports context influences and modulates injury prevention practice at this level. Participants described an elite athletic career as a continuous and adaptive evolving process. According to athletes and all stakeholders, sports injury prevention is a learning process shaped by individual experiences. This embodiment provides athletes with insight into the importance of ownership of their bodies and self-awareness. Thus, experience, communication, empowerment, knowledge, education, the elite athlete context and sports culture, all play a fundamental role in sports injury prevention. Our findings support the importance of contextual factors in sports injury prevention in an elite sports context. These results also bring practical implications on how we should approach injury prevention differently along an athlete’s journey to becoming an elite athlete. Considering specific contextual factors and influencing the process through awareness, communication and a shared responsibility is essential to develop a healthy and successful athlete.

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (14) ◽  
pp. 871-877 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Bolling ◽  
Saulo Delfino Barboza ◽  
Willem van Mechelen ◽  
H Roeline Pasman

ObjectivesTo explore how sports injury prevention takes place in elite sport practice and to describe the perspectives of athletes, coaches and physiotherapists regarding the most critical factors that help prevent injury in the elite sports context.MethodsQualitative study. Semistructured interviews with 19 international level athletes, coaches and physiotherapists, from different Olympic sports. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using comparative data analysis based on Grounded Theory.ResultsThe participants perceived injury risk as an inherent part of elite sports, because athletes try to enhance performance by pushing their limits. Participants described injury prevention as a learning process that changed over time, based on their sports experience and the injuries that they had sustained along their career. Communication among the athletes, coaches and physiotherapists was described as a key component of the injury prevention process. Study participants emphasised the relevance of teamwork and shared responsibility. Performance was presented as the core of the athlete’s daily practice, indicating that injury prevention can be a means to that end but is not a goal in itself for this community.ConclusionParticipants perceive injury prevention as part of elite sports and thus embrace the need for injury prevention. Injury prevention strategies in elite sports were described as a learning process, following the dynamic nature of training for maximal performance. Performance is the participants’ main goal.


2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 39-51
Author(s):  
Luthfi Hidayat ◽  
Meirizal ◽  
Yudha Mathan Sakti ◽  
Yuni Artha Prabowo Putro ◽  
Aditya Fuad Robby Triangga ◽  
...  

During a Physical Education (PE) class, students may encounter risks of injury. PE teachers, therefore, should possess competent knowledge and skill levels in sports injury prevention as well as good self-awareness of their abilities to manage any injury. This study aimed to evaluate the perceived knowledge, practices, and competence in the area of sports injury prevention, recognition, and management of PE teachers in Yogyakarta Special Province. The associations between PE teachers’ sociodemographic characteristics and their self-perceptions were also investigated. Subjects were Senior High School PE teachers who were willing to complete the questionnaire developed by the research team. 191 PE teachers voluntarily participated in the study. The results showed the lowest scores were found for: 1) the teachers’ practice in recording students’ medical history and assessing injury risk when starting a new academic year; 2) the teachers’ practice in evaluating the condition of first aid kits and Basic Life Support (BLS) devices; and 3) the teachers’ perceived competence in splinting. Only greater knowledge of the PRICE principle was associated with the teachers’ level of education and training experience and splinting competence with years of teaching. BLS training experience had the stronger association with perceptions of knowledge and skills in the recognition and treating of injuries.


2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (22) ◽  
pp. 1457-1461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martí Casals ◽  
Caroline F Finch

Sports science and medicine need specialists to solve the challenges that arise with injury data. In the sports injury field, it is important to be able to optimise injury data to quantify injury occurrences, understand their aetiology and most importantly, prevent them. One of these specialty professions is that of Sports Biostatistician. The aim of this paper is to describe the emergent field of Sports Biostatistics and its relevance to injury prevention. A number of important issues regarding this profession and the science of sports injury prevention are highlighted. There is a clear need for more multidisciplinary teams that incorporate biostatistics, epidemiology and public health in the sports injury area.


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