The characteristics of the Greek athletes of race walking in relation to the frequency of injuries

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the research was to record the characteristics of Greek athletes of race walking in relation to the incidence of injuries. Methods: The research material was derived from the analysis of the completed questionnaires by 42 male and female athletes of race walking (9 men, 9 women and 24 female teenagers). Four categories of factors have been recorded: a) individual factors of the sample in relation to the injuries, b) factors of race and preparation in relation to the injuries, c) factors of the injuries. Results: Based on the results, female athletes by preparing the physical condition (experience, training hours) had the highest percentage of injuries (22% - women, 33% - female teenagers), while male athletes had 11%. Concerning the choice of the type of training, the highest percentage of injuries was observed in the group training (33%), while the lesser percentage was the individual form of training (17%). Conclusions: Inexperienced male and female athletes, who had few hours of training and wore sunglasses, had possibility of injuries. The location of lesions were usually the lower extremities, while the common type of lesion was collectively tendonitis, while the usual causes of the lesion were overtraining and hard ground. Finally the majority of male and female athletes (28.6%) needed a time period up to 21 days for rehabilitation. The result of this research may helpful to create a prevention model that can protect the race walking athletes from this unfavorable phenomenon.

Keywords

• Race walking
• walker
• injury
• lesion