Supervisors info:
Αραχωβίτης Γεώργιος, ΕΕΠ κλάδου Ι, Σχολή Επιστήμης Φυσικής Αγωγής και Αθλητισμού, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακού Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών
Summary:
This thesis deals with the most common injuries that occur in water sports and its three types (slalom, jumping, figure skating) and explores both the nature of these injuries by area and zone of the human body and the frequency and main reasons for their occurrence.
Water skiing is a highly dynamic and exciting wet sport with many specificities. Due to the nature of the sport (boat-human system, high speed, manoeuvres, turns, jumps, etc.), stresses and injuries are very common among skiers, both experienced and non-experienced.
Most studies in the literature survey highlight as the most common areas of stress and injury a) the lower limbs, b) the trunk/spine and c) the head/neck.
The central theme addressed in the paper is the following:
- What are the most common and important injuries in the sport of water skiing? (in all three disciplines, slalom, jumping, figure skating)
And as a second:
- What areas of the body are most commonly stressed and affected?
We posit as a research hypothesis that the area of the body most stressed in the sport of water skiing is the lower limbs, particularly the knees and ankles.
As a reference work to investigate the research hypothesis (verification or not) we have considered the studyWater ski injuries and chronic pain in collegiate athletes by Jung, H.C., Straltsova, H., Woodgate, M.A., Kim, K.M., Lee, J.M., Lee, J.H. and Gann, J.J., published in the International journal of environmenta lresearch and public health,in 2021. The findings of this paper are compared with earlier ones.
The main part of the paper (literature review) includes:
- A brief historical review of water skiing, useful definitions and a reference to the three types of water skiing (slalom, jumping and figure skis) with a relative description of their characteristics.
- A full account and description of the most common injuries that occur to the water ski athlete, specifically listing the sections according to the zone of the human body under consideration:
- Head/neck
- Torso/spine
- Upper limbs
- Lower limbs
- Description of elements relating to muscle injuries and fractures.
In each relevant section the relevant bibliographical references are given.
In the last section (Conclusions), a summary of all research findings is presented with a comparative evaluation of all points of interest and verification of the research hypothesis of the paper
Specifically, through this work the following essential findings regarding the stresses of all body regions were obtained:
- Head/neck 15.8%
- Torso/spine 13.8%
- Upper limbs 19.1%
- Lower limbs 44.2%
These percentages represent averages from all three types of water skiing (slalom, jumping, figure skis)
The strain and injuries of the lower limbs, especially the ankles (26.5%), proves the validity of our research hypothesis. Previous studies [Hostetler, Hostetler, et. al., 2005 / Baker, Griffin, et. al., (2010)] confirm the results of the reference work regarding lower limb injuries as the most frequent.
Baker, Griffin, et. al, (2010) report in their survey that injury to the head/neck area was the second most common. In the reference study we used the rate for head/neck is 15.8% making it the 3rd most common area of injury.
