"It gives me a wake up call"-It is time to implement athlete health monitoring within the Para sport context.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to explore elite Para athletes' and coaches' perceptions of experiences of athlete health monitoring. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study used a qualitative design, applying a phenomenographical approach. Thirteen athletes and six coaches from two different socioeconomic contexts (the Swedish and South African Paralympic programs) participated. Data were collected through individual interviews focusing on athletes' and coaches' perceptions of experiences of athlete health monitoring within Para sport. RESULTS: Three main themes were revealed: (i) the benefits of athlete health monitoring, (ii) the importance of implementation and adaptation of athlete health monitoring in the real-world sports context, and (iii) barriers of athlete health monitoring. The perceptions were that regular monitoring can detect injuries early and thereby prevent them from progressing. Several participants highlighted the importance of monitoring factors beyond injury and illness, such as Para sport-specific health issues. Athletes' experiences were that they started to reflect on their own health, which was interpreted as improvement in health literacy. Another perception was that athlete health monitoring only is conducted within the research context and that athletes are not followed up. The perception was that it is the sports federations' responsibility to monitor and provide support when needed. Lastly, data revealed differences in the possibilities of conducting monitoring, which was related to both socioeconomic factors and Para sport. CONCLUSION: Coaches and athletes see health monitoring as valuable and important in enhancing athlete health. However, to maximize the impact, the monitoring structure should be specific to the context and provide multidisciplinary support when needed.

Health status of university football athletes through multidimensional screening.

OBJECTIVE: Adequate conditioning results from various physical, environmental, and psychological factors in sports activities. In this study, we aimed to clarify the concurrence and relevance of injuries, psychological problems, and sleep disturbance in university football (soccer) players. Biomechanical characteristics and risk factors for those injuries were also investigated. METHODS: Overall, 1,084 university football players participated in this cross-sectional study using a web-based health history questionnaire. Assessments were made via the presence of injuries for physical problems, the Athlete Psychological Strain Questionnaire (APSQ) for psychological problems, and the Athlete Sleep Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ) for sleep difficulties. RESULTS: There were 200 (19%) athletes with injuries; 413 (38%) of these were APSQ-positive, 246 (23%) were ASSQ-positive, and 468 (43%) athletes had no physical, psychological, or sleep problems. APSQ-positive respondents were significantly more likely to have a current injury than those who were APSQ-negative. No significant difference was observed between the number of ASSQ-positive and -negative respondents and current injuries. Those with sleep problems were significantly more likely to have psychological problems. CONCLUSION: More than 60% of university football players had one or more physical, psychological, or sleep problems. Players may have co-occurring problems, and it is important to address them for these athletes to reach peak performance.

Relation of Team Size and Success With Injuries and Illnesses During Eight International Outdoor Athletics Championships.

Introduction: The number of injuries and illnesses during major athletics championships vary according to sex and discipline. They may also differ between countries (national teams) given the differences in training, medical care, nutrition, lifestyle habits, and in travel to the championships. In addition, injuries and illnesses may influence the performance during the championships. Therefore, the aim was to analyse the differences in the injury and illness occurrence during international outdoor athletics championships with regards to the athlete's country, as well as establishing the potential relationships with the success of the country during the respective championships. Method: The national medical teams and the local organizing committee physicians reported all injuries and illnesses daily on a standardized injury and illness report form during 4 World and 4 European outdoor championships from 2007 to 2018. Results were presented as number of registered athletes, injuries, illnesses and medals (absolute and per 1000 registered athletes), and for countries of different team size. Results: During these 8 championships, a total of 219 different countries participated with a total of 13059 registered athletes who incurred 1315 injuries and 550 illnesses. The number of injuries and illnesses per championships varied between countries. Countries with higher numbers of registered athletes had a higher number of injuries and illnesses, as well as a higher number of medals and gold medals. There were significant positive correlations between number of injuries/illnesses and number of registered athletes, medals, gold medals. Injury and illness numbers per 1,000 registered athletes differed between countries and team sizes. Analyzing country participation grouped according to the number of registered athletes, there were significant negative correlations between injury/illness and medals/gold medals per 1,000 registered athletes. Conclusions: Given the correlation between health problems and country size, we suggest that medical services provision and staff should be adapted to the team size. In groups of different country team sizes, lower number of injuries and illnesses per registered athletes were correlated with higher number of medals and gold medals per registered athletes, which can support that injury and illness prevention should be recognized as a win-win performance-prevention strategy.

Injury and illness epidemiology at a summer sport-camp program, 2008 through 2011.

CONTEXT: University-sponsored summer sport camps often employ athletic trainers; however, there is a dearth of epidemiologic studies describing the injury and illness experience of sport-camp participants to guide clinicians. OBJECTIVE: To describe the injury and illness experience of youth participants at a university-sponsored summer sport-camp program during a 4-year period. DESIGN: Descriptive epidemiology study. SETTING: A National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I university that sponsored 76 to 81 camps for 28 sports each summer. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: A total of 44, 499 camp participants enrolled during the 4 years. Male and female participants ranged in age from 10 to 17 years and in athletic skill from novice to elite. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Data from handwritten injury and illness log books, maintained by sports health care personnel, were accessed retrospectively, entered into an electronic spreadsheet, and coded. Data were applied to the National Athletic Injury/Illness Reporting System. Participant-personnel contacts, defined as any instance when a participant sought health care services from personnel, were calculated per 100 participants. Injury and illness rates were calculated per 10 ,000 exposures, measured in participant-days. The distribution of injury and illness conditions and affected body regions were calculated. RESULTS: There were 11 ,735 contacts, for an overall rate of 26 per 100 participants, and 4949 injuries and illnesses, for a rate of 1 per 10, 000 participant-days. Participants at single-sex camps were less likely to sustain injuries and illnesses than participants at coeducational camps (rate ratio [RR] = 0.49; 95% confidence interval = 0.45, 0. 35; P < .001, and RR = 0.47; 95% confidence interval = 0.43, 0.51; P < .001, respectively). The lower extremity was injured most frequently (27.9%). Most injury and illness conditions were dermatologic (37.1%). CONCLUSIONS: The contact and injury and illness differences observed among sports and between sexes demonstrated potential differences in the sports health care needs of camp participants. These data can be used to make evidence-based clinical decisions, such as determining injury-prevention strategies and sports health care staffing needs.