Abstract

The purpose of this study was to characterize most common injuries and overuse syndromes observed in archery, to evaluate their influence on further sports careers and to determine what treatment methods are most commonly applied in these conditions. The sample comprised 48 top Polish archers, representing the champion class and the international champion class. Selection of the subjects was based on the survey carried out during the Polish Senior Championship held in August 2009 in Krakow. The survey was performed using the tailored questionnaire comprising 31 closed questions, divided into two parts. The first part of the questionnaire included the questions concerning the frequency and volume of training sessions, time devoted to warm up exercises, etc. while the second part pertained to fatigue and its causes as well as to injuries and their treatment.Pain and fatigue symptoms were most frequently noted in the shoulder area (38 subjects = 79.1%). The body areas where pain was least frequently observed included the elbow (4 subjects = 8.3%) and forearm (3 subjects = 6.2%). The prevailing part of injuries (26 cases = 60.5%) involved muscles and ligaments. In 16 archers (37.2%) such injuries were noted in joints and periarticular tissues and in only in 1 subject (2.3%) the nerves were involved. The most frequent method of treatment was rehabilitation (30%) and the rarest procedure was application of steroid drugs (5%). The most frequent method of rehabilitation applied in the research group was magnetotherapy (44% of the research group) while acupuncture was the rarest approach applied in this study (1%). In 6 archers (18.7%) the injuy did not have any significant effect on their sport performance. Deterioration in athletic performance was initially observed in 20 archers (62.6%), but after some time their performance reached normal levels. However, 6 archers (18.7%) failed to regain their baseline performance levels.The study subjects most frequently sustained soft tissue injuries in the area of shoulder joint. Physiotherapy was the most frequently applied approach in this study. The more frequently the examined subjects experienced injury consequences, the more commonly surgical treatment was applied. In the studied sample the women trained less frequently than the men.

Key words:

Injuries, archery, Shoulder