Information about project titled 'The young athlete´s health'
The young athlete´s health
| Details about the project - category | Details about the project - value |
|---|---|
| Project status: | Ongoing |
| Project manager: | Christine Holm Moseid |
| Supervisor(s): | Roald Bahr, Grethe Myklebust |
| Coworker(s): | Jonathan Brun Bar-Yaacov, Åse-Helene Kristiansen, Marit Slåstuen |
Description
Little is known about how illness and injuries affect our promising young elite athletes. What health problems do they have? How do injuries and illnesses affect their performance and participation in sports? Who is of greatest risk of illness and injury? Furthermore, we know little about how the risk for various health problems is correlated with athletes´ physical fitness or training and their competition program.
The purpose of the project is to gain more knowledge about the extent of health problems in young elite athletes. We want to map the extent of health problems in young elite athletes and how they experience health problems in the light of training, competition and performance in their own sport.
Method
First grade students at Elite Sport High schools (Toppidrettsgymnas) Wang Oslo, NTG Bærum, and NTG Lillehammer are invited to participate in this study. In addition, a group of athletes´ teammates from the local sport environment and students who are not engaged in elite sport will be invited to participate and serve as control students. The project will take place in 2014-15, and students will be followed throughout the school year 2014-15.
All included students will be asked to complete an electronic questionnaire about training and health history (illnesses and injuries). At baseline, all first grade students from Wang and NTG will conduct a test battery of physical fitness ("Ironman Jr."). Throughout the study period, all participants will be asked to weekly answer questions on how they experience any health problems in relation to training, participation and performance in their own sport. These questions are distributed through an "APP" on the athlete's smart phone.
Implications
The main objective of the study is to assess the prevalence of health problems in young elite athletes. Results from this surveillance study will provide us with knowledge on potential risk factors and with ideas on how to best prevent health problem is this young talented cohort.