Health protection of the Olympic athlete.
Protection of the athletes' health is a clearly articulated objective of the International Olympic Committee. Longitudinal surveillance of injuries and illnesses can provide valuable data that may identify high-risk sports and disciplines. This is a foundation for introducing tailored preventive measures. During the XXIX Summer and XXI Winter Games, comprehensive injury and illness recording through the medical staff of the participating National Olympic Committees and the sports medicine clinics revealed that between 7% and 11% of all athletes incurred an injury or suffered from at least one occurrence of illness during the Games. The incidence of injuries and illnesses varied substantially between sports. In the future, risk factor and injury mechanism analyses in high-risk Olympic sports are essential to better direct injury-prevention strategies. Concomitantly, periodic health evaluations of athletes will be instrumental to optimise health protection.
Department of Sports Medicine, Norwegian School of Sports Sciences, Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center, PO 4014 Ullevål Stadion, Oslo, Norway, 806. kathrin.steffen@nih.no
Kathrin
K
Steffen
Torbjørn
T
Soligard
Lars
L
Engebretsen
D000846:Anniversaries and Special Events; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001955:British Columbia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008499:Medical Records; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D038161:Snow Sports / Q000293:injuries; D013177:Sports; D013178:Sports Medicine / Q000379:methods*