Verletzungsstatistik bei Hochleistungssportlern mit einer Behinderung im Laufe der einjährigen Vorbereitungsphase auf die Sommer-Paralympics unter Berücksichtigung der Behinderung und der Sportart

Abstract

Summary There has been a comprehensive improvement of performance in high-performance sports of athletes with handicap in the past few years. The injuries of disabled athletes considering the type of disability have not been documented sufficiently. This study was conducted to monitor the types of injuries of disabled athletes preparing for the 2004 Summer Paralympics during a one year period considering the type of disability. Detailed Information of 143 athletes was collected and analysed. Therefore a comprehensive questionnaire was obtained regarding type of disability, kind of sports and training and the occurrence, duration and treatment of injuries. Depending on the type of disability, visually impaired athletes sustained with 46,2% significantly more injuries than athletes with other handicaps. A significant accumulation of an injured region as a function of the disabled body part could not be found. Although there have been mainly injuries to the back and to the upper extremities in athletes with paraplegia and injuries to the lower extremities in visually impaired athletes. The average time loss for the injuries was 26,5 days for all athletes. 32% of the injuries occurred exercising sport. Only 10% were private injuries. There is no correlation between kind of disability and expected type of injury. Compared to non disabled athletes the duration of the sustained injuries seems to be longer but not more common.