As part of the visit to Bournemouth University for Disability History Month 2016 Kristina Fagher, who is a Swedish registered sports physiotherapist talked about her research and how she works with athletes such as Nicolina Pernheim.

1. Sports-related injuries in
Paralympic sport
KRISTINA FAGHER, PT, MSC SPORTS MEDICINE,
PHD-STUDENT

6. Injury mechanism
• Bad weather-> warm, ice and soft snow
• Sit-ski starts to bounce
• Stuck to the sit-ski
• In abled-bodied skiing there have been changes of i.e.
height of ski boots, ski release, specific knee training
programmes for skiers in order to
prevent injuries

7. Paralympic sport
• Increased interest in Paralympic sport the last decades
• “Paralympic athletes have become elite of their sport”
(Vanlandewijck. 2011)
• Several positive health benefits
BUT…..
• Participation in sports places the
athlete at a risk for injury, can
may have boring consequences
(Ljungqvist et al. 2009)

8. Nordic hamstring
lowers
Knee control
Copenhagen
adductor exercise

9. Parasport?
• Few studies concerning sports-related injuries in
Paralympic athletes
• Existing studies show that injury rates are considerably
high (Fagher & Lexell. 2014)
• Very few studies regarding risk factors, impairment
related factors

10. Sports-injuries in parasport
• More injuries Paralympics compared to Olympics
• 50/50 acute/overuse injuries
• No study over longer period of time

11. Walking athletes
• Lower extremity injuries in leg, knee, foot
• High injury frequency athletics
• Many overuse injuries
• High injury frequency intellectual impaired
athletes

12. Visually impaired athletes
• Many injuries goalball, football 5-a-side, judo
• Acute injuries
• Falls and collisions
• Poor proprioception

13. Wheelchair athletes
• Shoulder and arm injuries
• Overuse injuries
• Use shoulders both in sports and daily life

14. Swedish Paralympic Athletes’
perceptions of sports-related injuries
Table 1. The causes of sports-related injuries in parasport.
Domains Perceptions of
experiences
Categories Essence
The impairment Injuries occur
because of the
impairment
Secondary
effects of
impairment
Awareness
Incorrect training Injuries get
worse the more
you train
Sports overuse
Incapacity
Preconditions in
Paralympic sports
Paralympic
athletes do not
have same
conditions
The unequal
pre-requisites
Inequality
“I have had problems with my shoulders during my entire
career, I believe it is because I´ve been training too much
and in a wrong way when I was a kid”

16. Athlete monitoring in Parasport
• Weekly e-diary
• Specifically adapted to para-athletes
• Prospective study
• Hours of training, intensity of
training, sleep, pain,
general-wellbeing, anxiety
• Injuries and illnesses

17. Towards prevention 

18. Conclusion
• Sports-injuries in Paralympic athletes are complex and
multifactorial
• Differ in several ways from abled-bodied athletes
• The development of sports safety work within the
Paralympic movement most continue
“Dont forget that we are
disabled, we are not just
athletes”

19. “Sports have the power to change
people and to change the world.”
Nelson Mandela
• https://youtu.be/6RMOSDynkw8?t=3m3s

20. Thanks
kristina.fagher@med.lu.se
@KristinaFagher