The feasibility of using an electronic system to collect health and exposure data in Australian Olympic combat sports (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Electronic methods are increasingly being used to manage health-related data amongst sporting populations. Collection of such data permits analysis of injury and illness trends, improves early detection of injuries and illnesses, collectively referred to as health problems, and provides evidence to inform prevention strategies. The Athlete Management System (AMS) has been employed across a range of sports to monitor health. Australian combat athletes train across the country without dedicated national medical/sports science teams to monitor and advocate for their health. Employing an internet-based system, such as the AMS, may provide an avenue to increase visibility of health problems experienced by combat athletes, and deliver key information to stakeholders detailing where prevention programs may be targeted. OBJECTIVE The objectives of this paper are to: 1) report on the feasibility of utilising the AMS to collect longitudinal injury and illness data of combat sport athletes, and 2) describe the type, location, severity and recurrence of injuries and illnesses that the cohort of athletes experience across a 12-week period. METHODS Twenty-six elite and developing athletes from four Olympic combat sports (boxing, judo, taekwondo and wrestling) were invited to participate in this study. Engagement with the AMS system was measured and collected health problems (injuries/illnesses) were coded using Orchard Sport Injury Classification System (OSICS, version 10.1) and International Classification of Primary Care (version 2). RESULTS Despite over 160 contacts, athlete engagement with online tools was poor with only 13% compliance across the 12 week period. No taekwondo or wrestling athletes were compliant. Despite low overall engagement, a large number of injuries/illness were recorded across the 11 athletes who entered data: 22 unique injuries, 8 unique illnesses, 30 recurrent injuries and two recurrent illnesses. The most frequent injuries were to the knee in boxing (n=41) and thigh in judo (n=9). In this cohort, judo players experienced more severe, but less frequent, injuries than did boxers, yet sustained more illnesses. In 97% of cases, athletes in this cohort continued to train irrespective of their health problems. CONCLUSIONS Amongst athletes who reported injuries, many reported multiple conditions indicating that there is a need for health monitoring in Australian combat sport. A number of factors may have influenced engagement with the AMS, including access to internet, the design of the system, coach views on the system, previous experiences with the system and the existing culture within Australian combat sports. To increase engagement, there may need to be a requirement for sports staff to provide relevant feedback on data entered into the system. Until the barriers are addressed, it is not feasible to implement the system in its current form across a larger cohort of combat athletes.