Medical care of the South African Olympic team: The Sydney 2000 experience
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2003
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South African Journal of Sports Medicine
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University of Cape Town
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Abstract
Objective. This descriptive study was undertaken to report the medical care and injuries sustained by the athletes and officials of the South African Team at the 2000 Olympic Games and to provide data for planning future events.
Setting. Retrospective review of medical records at the ί South African medical facility, 2000 Olympic Games, Sydney, Australia. Methods. Total number of consultations and diagnoses, were ascertained from medical logs and patient files which were completed daily by the members of the medical team. Acute and chronic soft tissue (muscle strain, ligament sprain, tendon injury, contusion or laceration) and bony injuries were analysed in terms of nature of injury, grading of severity and anatomical region injured. Main outcome measures. Number of consultations due to medical complaints or injuries amongst athletes and officials. Results. A total of 348 medical consultations were logged during the time in Australia. Seventy-nine per cent of consultations were with athletes and the remainder (21%) > with officials. Despite a comprehensive allergy screening and management programme, the most common medical complaints were respiratory (16%), ENT (18%), and neurological (16%) in nature whilst acute injury and chronic injury accounted for 17% and 14% of consultations: respectively. The most common acute and chronic injuries were soft tissue injuries. The most common acute injury regions were the foot and ankle (20%), hand and wrist ! (20%) and knee (14%). Eighty per cent of acute injuries were grade I, 14% grade II and 6% grade III. The most common chronic injury regions were foot and ankle (31%), shoulder (16%), knee (16%) and lumbar spine (13%). Conclusions. The nature of consultations suggest that it should be a prerequisite for doctors accompanying sports teams to multi-coded events to have a broad sports medicine knowledge of both medical and injury management of athletes. Furthermore, a sound knowledge of the management of soft tissue injury particularly in the hand and wrist, and foot and ankle regions is an important prerequisite. These data should be useful for planning medical services for future multi-coded events.
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Reference:
Derman, W. E. (2003). Medical care of the South African Olympic team-the Sydney 2000 experience. South African Journal of Sports Medicine, 15(3), 22-25.