The Sports-Related Injuries and Illnesses in Para-sport Study (SRIIPS): A Prospective Longitudinal Study

The Paralympic Games is today one of the largest sport event in the world. During the last decades parasport has in many ways become elite sport, allowing people with disabilities to achieve extraordinary heights of functional capability. With the growing number of athletes there is an increased interest in athletes' health and safety, both to enhance sports performance and to prevent injuries.

Even though it is well-known that participation in sports places the athlete at risk for injuries, there are few studies covering sports-related injuries and illnesses in parasport (SRIIP). Today, some injuries and illnesses are known to be preventable. However, this requires regular monitoring of internal and external load during athletic preparation. Standardized injury surveillances have been implemented within several sports for abled-bodied athletes, but such studies do not yet exist within parasport.

In our review article (Fagher & Lexell 2014) the investigators showed that existing studies of sports-related injuries in athletes with disabilities have a variable quality and that specific disability related factors have not been examined. Further studies are therefore warranted to obtain an increased in-depth knowledge of SRIIP. With a systematic longitudinal surveillance system tailored to parasport it would be possible to observe trends and risk factors over time, and thereby have a basis for developing specific preventive measures.

The overall aim of this project is to gain an in-depth understanding of the epidemiology of SRIIP in parasport in order to assist the identification and development of specific injury prevention strategies adapted to parasport.

The specific aims are: i) to design and implement a study protocol for prospective epidemiological studies of SRIIP in parasport; ii) to prospectively estimate the annual incidence of SRIIP among Swedish Paralympic athletes; and iii) to explore risk factors and mechanisms for sustaining SRIIP based on athlete exposure in order to form the basis for moving towards safe participation in parasport.