A team that included a number of researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) took a closer look at the circumstances of injuries sustained by athletes during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and examined whether the characteristics of an injury are what an athlete is able to overcome. Can be linked to being or not. Compete or be out.
“When a muscle injury is experienced by an elite athlete during training or competition, they (and their medical team) are faced with the ultimate athlete’s dilemma – deciding whether to continue competing and if In doing so, they risk further damage,” explains. Senior writer Hideyuki Koga.
“It’s not an easy dilemma given that the chance to compete in the Olympic Games is often a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so hopefully our findings and future studies of sporting events will provide information that can help athletes and their medical The teams make informed decisions.”
With data from a wide range of sports being included in the study the research team was able to uncover useful information towards their research question. Lead author Hiroaki Katagiri says, “We found that the proportion of athletes unable to finish the competition was significantly higher for athletes whose muscle tears extended to the tendon than for athletes with tears in the belly of the muscle or the peripheral portion of the injured muscle.” were. ”
Such a detailed data pool yields high-quality information that helps us understand which types of muscle tears are more likely to prevent athletes from competing, and which can be used to improve injury management or even What can be done to improve injury prevention.
So, it looks like there’s more than one type of photo finish at the Olympic Games. For an athlete who sustains a muscle injury, everything (hopes, dreams and four years of training) may hinge on one picture – an MRI.
Source: Eurekalert