UK Sport

Review studies injury and illness issues

Practitioners and physiotherapists identified the most common injuries and illnesses
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EIS 02 September 2009

The first in a series of injury and illness surveillance studies has been completed by the English Institute of Sport (EIS), UK Sport and the Centre for Sports Medicine at University of Nottingham with the publication of the Great Britain 2009 Injury/Illness Olympiad Review.

The review, compiled by EIS Research Scientist Debbie Palmer-Green and Dr Colin Fuller of University of Nottingham aimed to provide, for the first time, an indication of the main performance limiting injury and illness issues affecting athletes in Olympic sport in Great Britain.

Medical practitioners and physiotherapists working with each of the twenty nine summer and eight winter Olympic sports were asked to identify their top three performance limiting injury or illness issues. Out of the thirty seven sports surveyed thirty responded (24 summer; 6 winter). In total, twenty two physicians and nineteen physiotherapists replied, with both the physician and physiotherapist responding in ten sports.

Distribution of the most common injury and illness locations, type and pathologies were reported, along with current National Governing Body (NGB) surveillance practices.

Dr Rod Jaques, Director of Medical Services at the EIS commented:

“Experienced Governing Body doctors and physiotherapists will be aware of the injuries and illnesses that significantly affect training and competition amongst their athletes. The relatively small number of athletes not available for training and competition at any one time makes it difficult for sports to see solutions to an individual’s recurring pattern of absence. The EIS provides a perfect setting to compare experiences between Olympic sports in these areas and ultimately provide opportunities for hosting inter-sport meetings to help share existing and guide new injury and illness prevention solutions.

I am grateful to UK Sport for having facilitated obtaining the expertise of Debbie Palmer-Green and Colin Fuller in developing this concept from the original discussions post Beijing 2008. To reap the rewards of this work we must now see sports with similar problems (injuries or illnesses) combine together to openly discuss their experiences in the pre and re-habilitation of these injuries and prophylaxis of these illness problems.”

Glenn Hunter, Consultant in Research and Innovation (Performance Medicine) at UK Sport commented:

“We are all aware of the threat that injury and illness presents to the elite sport performer. Many years of preparation for competition, involving the input of many professionals, can be ruined in an instant by injury and illness, and sadly some injuries and illnesses can ruin an athlete’s career forever.

The joint UK Sport, EIS and University of Nottingham illness/injury surveillance program has been designed to work with the National Governing Bodies of Olympic and Paralympic sport to provide the latest information on injury/illness threats occurring in elite sport and to work with NGB’s and practitioners to prevent injury and illness and to minimise the recovery time should injury and illness occur.

This report presents the results of our first study into this area. The study aim was to be simple in design and level of question, but insightful in terms of identifying areas that we need to drill down into in future more detailed studies. There is much work to be done, and many studies to follow, and we will be working really hard to provide NGB’s and practitioners with the best information to influence their practice.”

The findings of the 2009 Olympiad Review will provide a platform for further discussion and specific workshops and interest groups. These results will also subsequently provide a knowledge base which will shape future more detailed injury and illness surveillance research work. The development and introduction of the first series of targeted injury/illness prevention workshops will be announced soon.

All practitioners who responded to the review should have received their copy of the report. If you have not received a copy or have any other queries please contact Debbie Palmer-Green at debbie.palmer@eis2win.co.uk.

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