Abstract
73 military personnel competed at the 2018 Invictus Games in Sydney, Australia as part of Team UK. The medical support team consisted of two doctors, two nurses and two physiotherapists. PURPOSE: To describe the epidemiology of injury and illness of Team UK competitors at the 2018 Invictus Games and the medical demand on the multidisciplinary team (MDT) by role (doctor, nurse & physiotherapist). METHODS: Electronic medical notes of the 56 males and 27 females (mean age: 37.18 S.D. 7.67) Team UK athletes were recorded via PPS software platform (Rushcliff, UK 2018). All medical interactions were retrospectively analysed using Excel (Microsoft, USA 2019) by: presenting complaint, MDT role, time, venue, anatomical region, treatment and outcomes. RESULTS: Team UK comprised of 60 veterans and 13 serving military personnel. Self-declaration of baseline illness/impairment returned 8 spinal cord injuries, 23 limb deficiencies, 23 musculoskeletal, 6 traumatic brain injuries, 14 neurological and 23 psychological illnesses. In total 198 interactions occurred over the 14 days: 69 doctor interactions, 21 nursing interactions and 108 physiotherapist interactions. Of these 107 were new interactions and 91 follow-ups/re-presentations. Of new interactions 59 (55.1%) were musculoskeletal in origin, 15 (14.0%) were illness, 14 (13.1%) were wound care, 3 (2.8%) were emergency care, 1 (0.8%) was psychological support and 15 (14.0%) were classified as other. The most common anatomical regions were shoulder, lumbar spine and cervical spine. Three acute emergencies required hospital admission: a suspected spinal cord injury, a suspected stroke and a respiratory arrest. 7 interactions led to visits to the local medical centre and three resulted in a quarantine. The highest incidence of interactions occurred within the 6 day competition period: 123 (62.2%) vs. 75 (37.9%) on the 8 days pre/post-competition. The highest incidences by day were the second, the first and last day of competition. 82 (41.4%) interactions occurred outside of competition venues (e.g. transport/hotel). Only 13 (17.8%) athletes had no medical interactions. CONCLUSION: These results can be used to inform injury prevention programmes and the composition of future MDTs. The data presented will allow for comparative data to be collected at future Invictus Games.
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