Sports Orthopedics

Abstract

Problem: Little is known about health complaints and their prevention in elite wheelchair basketball. The study aimed to survey training environment and health complaints of elite wheelchair basketball players in the 12 months prior to the Wheelchair Basketball World Championships 2018 (WBWC).Methods: Players answered an anonymous retrospective questionnaire on match and training exposure, daily training environment, injury prevention as well as health problems and their implications in the 12 months before the WBWC.Results: In the 12 months prior the WBWC, 46.2% of athletes struggled at least sometimes with physical complaints, and 15.9% played often/always with pain or health complaints. Half of the players (50.8%) did not modify the volume of their training when having health complaints. Sixty percent of the athletes reported that injury prevention exercises were often or always part of their training. The overall training environment and national team support was rated as good or very good by 89.7% and 69.1% of players, respectively. Discussion: Prior to the world championships, wheelchair basketball players reported a high rate of pre-competition health complaints despite good training environment and the use of preventive strategies. Most players indicated they continued to play with pain and health complaints. Frequently playing with health complaints is known from other Olympic sports or pedestrian basketball. Prospective surveillance systems are needed to identify health complaints early and to examine efficiency of preventive measures in order to improve health and probably performance of wheelchair basketball players.Key Words: Paralympic Sports, Sports Injury, Injury Prevention, Trainings Conditions, Elite Athletes