Role of Physiotherapist in the Management of On-field Sport Injuries - A case study of field hockey.

Study Design: Prospective cohort study of Indian women field hockey players. Background: On ground sports injuries have become a challenging task for physiotherapists around the world and lack of literature data makes it more difficult. In India it is still in growing phase. This is the first case study which provides the basic base line data regarding potential areas of injury, their types, treatments and outcome of the treatment on subjects and on game results. Case Description: This study belongs to 16 Indian women field hockey players participated in 15th Asian games held at Doha from 1st Dec to 15 Dec, 2006 where they played total 7 matches, each of 70 minutes. Outcomes: Throughout the tournament, 39.3% of total players got injured. Three body parts affected by 7 different types of injuries and rehabilitated according to symptoms by using physical therapy which is cost effective. Occurrence of muscle related injury was the highest (35%) and cut injury at head and eye were the least (2%). Forwards were at highest risk (43%) while goal keeper the least (0%). The effect of treatment was 100% and recovery time ranged from 5 min to 35 min. Out of 22 total scored, forward scored the maximum (19 goals-86%) followed by midfielder (2 goals-9%) and defender (1 goal-5%). After rehabilitation, injured player scored significantly (p<0.01) more goals (68%) than the not injured (32%) shows physiotherapy enhanced the game performance. Discussion: Muscular related injuries which were found most may be due to running or less flexibility in the muscles. Forwards affected most may be due to their quick responses and chasing the ball at both the end goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]