Olympic athletics medical experience, Seoul--personal views.
نویسندگان
چکیده
The medical team to look after 107 track and field athletes and 23 officials consisted of two doctors and four physiotherapists. After two years' prior fact-finding, detailed planning for the games started many months in advance. With final team selections only four weeks before travelling, all hopefuls had to complete appropriate immunizations, fitting in with training schedules and competition commitments as best they could. Notification to probables had been circulated one year earlier, plus announcements in athletics magazines. We were advised that Japanese B encephalitis, a mosquito-borne infection was a particular local risk because of the rural nature of the training camp in Japan, surrounded as it was by paddy fields. The athletes acclimatized there for two weeks in September and October. The vaccine was expensive and not freely available. The initial sole suppliers, the army, transferred the operation to a civilian supplier who doubled the price. Uptake was partial but no illness resulted, though mosquito and other insect bites were a nuisance. Hepatitis B vaccine was donated and we recommended it due to the wide international travel undertaken by our athletes. A team booklet was produced, which gave advice on relevant topics including immunization, jet-lag, acclimatization, food and drink, a warning about AIDS and a suggestion as to a personal travel kit. It was a deliberate policy not to encourage self-medication since we thought it reasonable and prudent to exercise as much control as possible on athletes' medications. Anyone with a resting pulse of five to ten counts higher than the norm was advised to see the doctor. Crutches seem to be an almost inevitable necessity on long team trips. They are awkward to carry and the donation by the Bath Institute of Medical Engineering of small but ingenious folding crutches carried in a case was a godsend. All team members required medical examination before travelling to Seoul, but selection only took place four weeks before departure and our athletes were then spread worldwide. The logistics of accomplishing these medicals was something of a nightmare with our doctors pursuing athletes at every available opportunity. Happily many of the athletes' GPs appeared willing to complete the forms free of charge. The examinations offered another opportunity to examine the various health foods, vitamins and protein supplements which athletes took.
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عنوان ژورنال:
- British journal of sports medicine
دوره 23 2 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 1989