Brazilian physiotherapy services in the 2007 Pan-American Games: injuries, their anatomical location and physiotherapeutic procedures.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to assess the profile of the treatments performed at the physiotherapy department of the Brazilian Olympic Committee during the 2007 Pan-American Games.


METHODS
Observational study.


METHODS
Participants in this study included 434 athletes from the Brazilian Olympic Committee who were referred by the Brazilian medical department to the Brazilian physiotherapy department. The treatment registers were done in a standard form and stored for computer analysis and descriptive statistics calculation.


RESULTS
Most athletes of the Brazilian delegation needed physiotherapeutic treatment (n=434, 65.7%), and approximately one quarter of the athletes went to the Games with a previous injury (n=146, 22.1%). The main complaints observed during the treatments were spine-related pathologies (lumbar pain, thoracic and cervical pain) (n=89, 25.3%), tendinopathy (n=79, 22.4%), and muscle strain (n=43, 12.2%), among others. There were 2523 physiotherapeutic treatments performed, and the most utilized procedures were kinesiotherapy, which represented 24.9% (n=969) of all the procedures performed, ultrasound (n=757, 19.4%) and cryotherapy (n=670, 17.2%).


CONCLUSIONS
A large number of athletes required physiotherapy services during the Games. Approximately one quarter of the athletes were injured before the competition started. The main pathologies were spine-related injuries, tendinopathy and muscle strain. The most frequently utilized procedures were kinesiotherapy, ultrasound and cryotherapy.
Brazilian Olympic Committee's Medical Department, Physiotherapy Service, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. aledlopes@yahoo.com.br
Alexandre Dias
AD
Lopes
Henrique Jorge
HJ
Barreto
Ronaldo Carvalho
RC
Aguiar
Francine Barreto
FB
Gondo
João Grangeiro
JG
Neto
D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D019370:Observation; D026761:Physical Therapy Specialty / Q000379:methods*; D013177:Sports; D013178:Sports Medicine