Purpose
To identify the most common and burdensome health problems among Olympic and Paralympic athletes, to assess the value of a comprehensive PHE program in detecting current injuries and other health problems, to identify and evaluate best treatment.
Project description
All candidate athletes for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 through Beijing 2022 Paralympic and Olympic Games (20-40 Para and approximately 200 Olympic athletes each Games cycle), as well as their respective health teams, will be informed about procedures and goals for the Olympiatoppen Periodic Health Evaluation Program prior to entry. Between 12 and 24 months before each summer and winter Games, national team coaches of all relevant sports are asked to provide lists of athletes they considered to be candidates to qualify. Those athletes will be invited to take part by the program manager. Health data will be collected using a multidisciplinary health history questionnaire (part 1) followed by further clinical examinations at the Norwegian Olympic Training Center (Olympiatoppen) (part 2) with involvement of their federation medical team where available. We will then monitor athletes from 12 to 18 months prior to each Game using a weekly online questionnaire (OSTRC-H2). We will ask them to report all health problems they had experienced in the preceding 7 days, irrespective of their consequences on their sports participation or performance and whether they had sought medical attention.
Results
Ongoing work and one paper is published.