Sports Injury and Illness Incidence Among South Korean Elite Athletes in the 2018 Asian Games: a Single- Physician Prospective Study of 782 Athletes
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Open access Original research BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med: first published as 10.1136/bmjsem-2019-000689 on 5 February 2021. Downloaded from Sports injury and illness incidence among South Korean elite athletes in the 2018 Asian Games: a single- physician prospective study of 782 athletes Sang- Hoon Lhee ,1,2 Rahul Jain,1 Mohanraj Madathur Sadasivam ,3 Sejun Kim ,4 Moonjung Bae,4 Jungjin Yu ,5 Do Young Lee 1 To cite: Lhee S- H, Jain R, ABSTRACT Summary Madathur Sadasivam M, Objective The increasing incidence of sports injury et al. Sports injury and illness among athletes calls for systemic surveillance of injuries incidence among South ► Injury and illness patterns among the Korean ath- and illnesses in this field to develop preventive measures. Korean elite athletes in the letes who participated in the Asian Games were The patterns of injuries and illnesses that occurred among 2018 Asian Games: a single- studied by a single physician using electronic media Korean athletes during the 2018 Asian Games held in physician prospective study in real time and thus uniformity in reporting can be of 782 athletes. BMJ Open Indonesia were studied. expected. Sport & Exercise Medicine Methods We recorded the occurrence of all injuries and ► We recorded an overall injury rate of 18 per 100 2021;7:e000689. doi:10.1136/ illnesses reported to the chief medical officer, coordinated athletes, with male athletes at slightly higher risk of Protected by copyright. bmjsem-2019-000689 with the help of an instant social messaging application in getting injured than female athletes. real time. ► The rate of injury was higher compared with previ- Results A total of 782 elite athletes participated in 46 Accepted 11 June 2020 ous Olympics reports. sporting events. A total of 141 (18.03%) injuries were ► Our statistics may reveal the actual risk of injury recorded, with 121 (15.47%) athletes suffering at least to athletes since it is based on a single- physician one injury. Out of 141 injuries 80 (56.74%) were in male report. athletes and 61 (43.26%) were in female athletes. The ► Training injuries were more common, implying the highest number of injuries was seen among sport climbing necessity of strict enforcement of adequate train- © Author(s) (or their athletes (n=10, 71.43%), followed by sepak takraw. A ing rather than very little or too aggressive training employer(s)) 2020. Re- use total of 16 (11.35%) injuries were expected to prevent sessions. permitted under CC BY- NC. No athletes from participation in competition/training. Most commercial re- use. See rights ► Injury rates among sepak takraw and sport climbing of the injuries occurred during training (46.10%), with and permissions. Published by athletes were very high, and it may be noted that lower lumbar spine being the most common part injured. BMJ. these injury- prone games are included only in Asian 1 A total of 209 (26.72%) illnesses were reported, with at Orthopedic Surgery, CM General Games; thus, we may suggest alterations in the least one illness in 170 (21.73%) athletes. The incidence http://bmjopensem.bmj.com/ Hospital, Seoul, Korea (the game floor and use of more protective equipment. Republic of) among female athletes (26.90%) was comparable with ► Regarding illnesses, the overall rate of illness was 2 that of male athletes (26.90%). Maximum illness rate was Department of Mechanical higher compared with earlier Olympics reports. Engineering, KAIST, Daejeon, reported in table tennis (100%). The most common system ► Gastrointestinal problems were more frequent in Korea (the Republic of) involved was gastrointestinal (n=93, 44.49%), followed by 3 contrast to other reports where respiratory issues Orthopedic Surgery, CM General respiratory (n=53, 25.36%). Environmental factors were were more common; in our report, respiratory issues hospital, Seoul, Korea (the causative in 111 athletes (53.11%) and infection in 79 stood next to gastrointestinal issues. Republic of) (37.79%). Illnesses resulted in loss of at least 1 day among 4Medical and Science, 30 (14.35%) athletes. Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, Jincheon- gun, Conclusion Overall 15.47% of athletes suffered at least Chungcheongbuk- do, Korea (the one injury and 21.73% suffered at least one illness; the in physical activity is well known to reduce on September 28, 2021 by guest. Republic of) incidence of injury and illness varied depending on the the risk of coronary heart disease, hyperten- 5Orthopaedics, CM Hospital type of sports. sion, obesity and diabetes mellitus. However, of Korean Olympic Committee sports injuries and illnesses among athletes Jincheon National Training have also led to temporary or permanent Center, Cheonan- si, 1 2 Chungcheongnam- do, Korea morbidity. Standardised monitoring and (the Republic of) INTRODUCTION evaluation of sports injury has been devel- Participation in sporting activities is important oped to provide not only epidemiological Correspondence to for all age groups to maintain health and for information on how injury occurs but also Dr Sang- Hoon Lhee; many other reasons, such as pleasure, sociali- knowledge for its preventive measures. van sanghoon. lhee@ gmail. com sation and competition. Regular involvement Mechelen et al described these measures Lhee S- H, et al. BMJ Open Sp Ex Med 2021;7:e000689. doi:10.1136/bmjsem-2019-000689 1 Open access BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med: first published as 10.1136/bmjsem-2019-000689 on 5 February 2021. Downloaded from as the ‘sequence of prevention’.3–5 The first step in the This excluded pre- existing and not fully rehabilitated sequence of prevention is identification of the extent of injuries, but included all injuries that required medical injury, second the factors causing this injury, and third attention and fully rehabilitated injuries that occurred the measures to be taken to prevent injury. FIFA started during training and games. injury surveillance in 1998,5 which was then followed by An illness is defined as any physical complaint (not other major events.6–9 The Korean Olympic Committee, related to injury) newly incurred during games that formed in 1946, became a member of the IOC in 1947 received medical attention regardless of the conse- and made their first appearance in London Olympic quences with respect to absence from competition and/ Games in 1948.10 or training.11 This excluded pre- existing and chronic The injury surveillance system developed by Junge illnesses, but included all illnesses that required medical et al11 convened by IOC was first successfully applied attention and acute exacerbations of chronic illness. to multisport event during the 2008 Olympic Games,12 which later was extended to include injury as well as Data analysis illness during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics13 and the Injury and illness incidence rates were calculated using subsequent Olympics.14–16 the formula I=n/e, where n is the total number of injury Although injury among athletes has been a main area and illness and e is the total number of exposed athletes. of concern, the effects of illnesses cannot be overlooked. The 95% CI for each rate was based on the Poisson There is conclusive evidence that athletes in training are distributed variable. The incidence of injury and illness more susceptible to viral illnesses when compared with was expressed per 100 athletes. Comparisons of categor- 2 the normal population.17 Illnesses not only affect athletes’ ical variables were done using χ test or Fisher’s exact performance, but a transmittable illness could also affect test for small numbers. Incidence rates between the two sports competitors, trainers and even the audience.18 19 groups were presented as rate ratio (RR). We considered Moreover, the desire of athletes to train through illness to p≤0.05 as significant. All data were evaluated using Micro- minimise lay- off time conflicts with the need to minimise soft Excel and SPSS V.14.0. stress during acute illness.17 Patient and public involvement Protected by copyright. Various studies have reported injury and illness Patients and/or the public were not involved in the patterns in Korean athletes over time.20–25 Most of these design, or conduct, or reporting or dissemination plans studies were performed over a long period of training of this research. in different sports. The aim of the present study is to study the injury and illness patterns among elite Korean RESULTS athletes who participated in the 2018 Asian Games held A total of 782 Korean athletes took part in the 2018 Asian in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia. Games held in Jakarta and Palembang in Indonesia from 18 August 2018 to 2 September 2018 (16 days), of whom METHODS 440 (56.26%) were male and 342 (43.73%) were female Study design and implementation athletes. We employed the IOC surveillance system to record injuries and illnesses sustained by South Korean athletes Incidence and distribution of injury during the 2018 Asian Games in this prospective We observed a total of 141 injuries, giving an injury rate cohort study. Three weeks prior to the games, the study of 18.03 per 100 athletes, out of which 121 (15.47%) http://bmjopensem.bmj.com/ objectives were explained to South Korean team phys- suffered at least one injury, 18 (2.30%) suffered two inju- iotherapists, trainers and team coaches. All injuries and ries each and one athlete suffered triple injury. Out of 141 illnesses which occurred during training or competition injuries 80 (56.74%) were in male and 61 (43.26%) were were reported to the chief medical officer (CMO) in real in female athletes. The risk of an athlete being injured time using a South Korean free instant messaging client was highest in sepak takraw (n=17, 62.96%), followed called ‘Kakao Talk’ and the reported athletes were exam- by sport climbing (n=8, 57.14%).