title: Audit of sports injuries and services
Creators: name: Almousawi, Abdul-Majeed
Publisher: name: University of Glasgow
Year: 2002
Subjects: subject: Kinesiology, sports management.

description: The main aim of this project was to make a comparison of the incidence and management of injuries in Kuwaiti and Scottish athletes. The comparison between the two is on an ongoing prospective basis. To prepare for the main study a retrospective pilot observation was conducted to assess the number and type of Kuwaiti athletics injuries. This study was performed during season 1997/1998 during the 4 days of the national final competition. The data were collected by questionnaire and interviews, conducted with 110 athletes representing 8.7% of the 1,262 registered. 110 (47%) from those 232 who participated in the finals were interviewed of whom 76 had reported injuries during the season from 7 athletic clubs. This study identified 76 athletes who had had injuries in previous season. Most of the injuries occurred in young adults (16-19) years representing 44.7% of all injuries. Most of the injuries occurred during training rather than competition sessions with 20% occurring in sprint events. Injuries to the lower limb predominated while the hamstring muscle group and the foot were the most frequently injured anatomical areas. The sample was small however, but this stimulated further study. A prospective study was performed on Kuwaiti athletes during the season 1999/00. Questionnaires were delivered by post or personal contact and 103 injuries were collated. In addition, a control cohort of 103 athletes was studied to give information concerning the demographics of non-injured athletes. An early peak of injuries was found at the beginning of the season and there was a late rise during the competition stages. Injuries were more frequent among mature adult participants. Significant differences were found in the average of hours of daily training and participation in warm-up and cool-down exercises between the injured and non-injured groups. Most injuries occurred during training sessions. Sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers sustained most injuries. Doctors diagnosed the majority of injuries, which were mainly treated in the sports club injury clinics. Rehabilitation was directed virtually equally by coaches and physiotherapists. A third of the athletes suffered an injury recurrence. Each injury caused athletes to miss on average 4 weeks of activity. Muscle strains and ligament sprains were the most common injuries. Injuries to the lower limb predominated while the hamstring muscle group and the ankle were the most frequently injured anatomical sites. Preliminary data was collected from Scottish athletes. The health care needs and requirements of athletes who were members of 16 Scottish athletic clubs were examined with regard to sports injury management. Most athletes confirmed that a GP or physiotherapist would be the first point of contact. Although half of injured athletes knew of the existence of a formal sports injury clinic, only a few attended theses facilities. The athletes' perceived needs can be divided into personnel and the equipment and include other suggestions such as early consultation, investigation and rehabilitation. The presence of a skilled physiotherapist was the most essential element on the eyes of athletes whether they had sustained an injury or not. Most of the injured athletes were self-referrals. This is the first study of customer (athletes) expectation and experience. The majority had their own transport, accepted the principle of paying a fee for treatment and were happy to travel up to 10 miles to obtain good service. The lack of knowledge concerning the existence of these clinics suggests that a programme to advertise the facilities is needed. It is suggested that the use of telephone answering services with a rapid response within 24 hours from a specialist which helped communication. In addition, athletes should be able to access the information concerning these centres by electronic means by an appropriate web page through the Internet.