SPORTS CARE TRAVELLING WITH ATHLETES

WITH DISABILITIES: SOME MEDICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The increasing profile of competitive sport for people with disabilities has made global travel a common occur- rence in disability sport. At the Sydney Paralympics in 2000, 4,032 athletes from 123 countries took part in competition. The British team was comprised of 212 athletes and 120 staff, a substantial number of people for the medical team to take care of. The able-bodied athlete when travel- ling abroad has to consider the effects of time zone travel and the climatic conditions they may encounter after a long haul flight (1). The athlete with a disability has to consider these, and many other poten- tial complications which may occur ‘en route’

and could adversely affect competition. Adequate edu- cation and preparation of both

By Kirsty Arbuthnott Røed, MCSP, Dr Nick Webborn, DipSpMed.

Historically sports for people with disabilities have developed in certain sports for certain disabled groups. Some groups maintain their own organisations and Games ie. the Transplant Games, the Special Olympics (for athletes with learning difficulties) and the Silent Games (for the hearing impaired). This article will however focus mainly on Paralympic athletes. The term Paralympic, means parallel to the Olympics and not paraplegic or paralysed as some people think. It is important to make this distinction as there are many other disability groups represented at the Games, namely, amputees, the visually impaired, athletes with cerebral palsy, Les Autres (eg. those with other conditions such as joint fusions, mul- tiple sclerosis, brittle bone disease etc.) as well as the spinal cord injured and those affected by spina bifida. It is important to remember that some Paralympic athletes may also have associat- ed conditions such as hearing impairment or epilepsy as part of their disability.

Each disability group presents its own potential for problems during travel and competition or training away from home. It is, therefore, very important that all team management and medical support are aware of the likely complications.

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athletes and their medical support team can help to prevent these complications.

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS It is almost impossible to be completely politically correct, but there are some important issues to be aware of. Firstly, in discus- sion, the athlete or sport should be put first rather than the dis- ability, for example, ‘athletes with a disability’ or ‘sport for peo- ple with a disability’, rather than ‘disabled athletes’ or ‘disabled sport’. After all, the disability is generally not the main issue when athletes get to this level and as a result, medical support staff should be specialised in sports medicine and not just knowledge- able about disability. It is also important that able-bodied staff do not adopt slang terms for specific groups. The athletes themselves may do this, but it is their perogative. It helps to be sensitive to difficult situations that may arise. For example if the team are not allowed to get off the plane, it shows good team spirit to stay put with them and assist them to enjoy the extra space available.

There is always a large amount of equipment and baggage to be moved when travelling, and if you are in a wheelchair or on crutch- es it may be impossible to assist. This means that medical staff want- ing to work in this area must be prepared to pull their weight and more. It is advisable for support staff to be very familiar with manu-

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