Implication of Back and
Core Issues of the Disabled
Athlete
Mary L Donahue, MEd, ATC, PT
Henry Ford Health System
William Clay Ford – Center for Athletic Medicine
Detroit, MI
Sports for the Disabled Athletes
Participation in sports is based on the disability or diagnosis in
these general categories:
Amputations
Blind or Visually Impaired
Cerebral Palsy
Deaf or Hearing impaired
Intelligently Impaired
Spinal Cord Injuries
Les Autres – “The Others” Those who do not fit in the above
categories.
Competition
 Athletes compete in the local,
regional, national and
international levels
 Paralympics Games are the
pinnacle of sports for disabled
athlete and are recognized by
the USOC
 Deaf athletes compete in the
Deaflympics
 Intelligently Impaired athletes
compete in the Special
Olympics
Deaflympics
 The first organized international
disabled sport competition was held
in 1924 in Paris for athletes with
hearing impairment or deafness
 Longest reigning international games
outside the Olympics
 4000 athletes and officials from 77
countries competed in Taipei during
the summer games
 600 athletes and officials were at the
winter games in Salt Lake City, 2007
Special Olympics
 Special Olympics were founded in 1968 by
Eunice Shriver and were for athletes with
Intellectual Disabilities
 The first International games were held in
1977 in Colorado and are held every 2
years alternation summer and winter
games
 2500 athletes from 100 countries
competed in the 2009 winter games and
7500 from 165 countries complete in the
2007 summer games
Sport for the Physical Disabled Athlete
 Sir Ludwig Guttmann the “Father”
of Disabled Sports
 Instituted sports as a component of
rehab of spinal cord injured service
men/women in 1944
 Sir Guttmann felt sport participation
was as important for the patients as
learning proper skin/bladder care.
 First competition for disabled
athletes was held in 1948
Athletes with Physical Disabilities
Archery was the first sport, followed by track
Swimming, track and field were soon added as
well as wheelchair basketball
The Early “Olympics for the Paralyzed”
The Paralympics
 Held in 1960 in Rome with
400 athletes from 23
countries and were the
precursor of the
Paralympics games
 Paralympics are from the
word Para in Greek
meaning “attached to” the
Olympic
 The first “Paralympic Games
were held in Japan in 1964
Paralympics were held in most of the same
countries as the Olympics between 1960 – 1984
Seoul was the first Olympic host city which was
also the host city for the Paralympics.
Since 1988 a host city must submit a bid to host
both the Olympic and Paralympic Games
The Beijing games hosted 3951 athletes from 146
countries
The opening ceremonies of the Vancouver games
is March 12 - today
Paralympic Athletes are those with
the following disabilities/diagnoses
Amputations
Les Autres (the others)
 Traumatic
 Disease
 Muscular Dystrophy
 Multiple Sclerosis
 Ehler’s Danlos Syndrome
Arthrogryposis
Blindness/Visual
impairment
Cerebral Palsy
Dwarfism
Friedreich's ataxia
Osteogenesis Imperfecta
Spinal Cord Injuries
 Traumatic
 Disease
Spina Bifida
The Athletes are represented by
these organizations in the USA
Classification System
Designed to equalize competition
By Disability
Spinal Cord: based on
motor innervations
Amputation: based on
level of limb loss
Blind: based on level of
vision loss or total
blindness
Cerebral Palsy: most
complicated, based on
presentation , type of CP
and involvement
Classification System
Designed to equalize competition
Based on Function
 Athletic competition is
classified within a sport to
create an situation where
those with similar level of
disabilities are matched
 There are several different
sport specific classification
systems
Summer Paralympic Sports
Archery
Athletics
Boccia
Cycling
Equestrian
Football 5-a-side
Football 7-a -side
Goalball
Judo
Powerlifting
Rowing
Sailing Shooting
Swimming
Table Tennis
Volleyball Sitting
Wheelchair Basketball
Wheelchair Dance Sport
Wheelchair Rugby
Wheelchair Tennis
Paralympic Winter sports
•
•
•
•
•
Alpine Skiing
Biathlon
Cross Country Skiing
Ice Sledge Hockey
Wheelchair Curling
Injuries by Disability Group
Blind Athletes
More prone to lower
extremity injuries
Injuries occur from
normal sport activities,
but also from a lack of
proprioception
Goalball injuries are to
shoulder and head
Injuries by Disability Group
Wheelchair Athletes
Majority of injuries are
to the upper extremity
Prone to overuse injuries
due
Secondary problems due
to disability
Autonomic Dysreflexia
Thermoregulatory
Skin breakdowns
Osteoporosis/osteopenia
Injuries by Disability Group
Amputee Athletes
Lower limb strains and sprains
Low back pain
Injuries to the intact limb
Injures to the amputated limb
due to osteopenia/osteoporosis
Injuries by Disability Group
Cerebral Palsy Athlete
Injuries to the knees
and shoulder are the
most common
Patellofemoral
syndrome frequently
occurs with
ambulatory athletes
Injuries by Disability Group
Special Olympic Athlete
Congenital problems with
Atlanto-axial joint and
cardiac malformation
Hypermobility of joints
General deconditioning
Case Presentation
• Amputee track athlete
• Blind Athlete
Case Presentation
• Wheelchair Athlete
• Cerebral Palsy Athlete
Bibliography
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•
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•
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