Team
Juliana Melo Ocarino
Andressa Silva
Renan Alves Resende
Project partners
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Centro de Referência Paralímpico Brasileiro, CTE-UFMG, Brazil.
Comitê Paralímpico Brasileiro, Brazil.
Funding
The study was funded by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)—09/2022-, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG)—CDS - APQ-01017-17, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brasil (CAPES)—Finance Code 001.
Background
Most of the studies related to the health problems epidemiology in para-athletes investigated the prevalence of injuries and illnesses during competitions, which might not detect most gradual onset injuries or less severe illnesses. The profile and occurrence rates of health problems vary between Paralympic sports modalities. For example, para powerlifting and athletics were among the ten modalities with the highest injury incidence rates, while para swimming had the lowest rates during the Rio 2016 Summer Paralympic Games. On the other hand, para-swimming had the greatest illness incidence rate. The incidence and severity of injuries and illnesses in para-athletes are higher than in athletes without impairment, which also results in a long time-loss since para-athletes have unique medical conditions related to the disability itself. Thus, the surveillance of health problems in a longitudinal follow-up study and also the characterisation of body functions and structural aspects, such as muscle function and joint mobility, may contribute to the proposal of treatment and prevention strategies in future studies.
Objectives
The project aims to investigate the prevalence, incidence and their characterisation of health problems in para-athletes. The project is organized in three phases. In a first step, a systematic review of the literature on prevalence, incidence and the profile of musculoskeletal injuries in para-athletes was conducted. The second step aimed to describe the prevalence, incidence, and severity of health problems and their characterisation in para-athletes from the modalities of para-athletics, para powerlifting and para-swimming of the Brazilian Paralympic Reference Center during a sports season. We also aim to compare the prevalence of health problems between the three modalities. In a third step, we will describe the muscle function and joint mobility of these para-athletes and also investigate how the assessment is performed by clinicians and their practical experiences in the dichotomy of an individualized and group approach with Paralympic athletes, considering the diversity of health conditions, the classification category, and the sports modality's characteristics and demands.