publication date: Jul 7, 2010
According to a poll of
physiotherapists carried out by
AposTherapy, this time of year brings in a host of patients who have
injured themselves by
competing in a race at a
school's sports day.
Injuries inflicted by the likes of the
egg-and-spoon race can be
severe. One in seven physios report treating damage to the
medial collateral ligament (one of the major ligaments in the knee) or
strained calves and hamstrings (14 per cent), while one in ten have treated aggravated
osteoarthritis.
Others even report parents tearing their knees’
cruciate ligaments as a result of competing in the
sack race or three-legged race (3.5 per cent) – an
injury from which it can take up to a
year to recover.The
AposTherapy panel warns that
sprints are the most
hazardous event for competitive parents with over a third of people sustaining an
injury. But even the quintessentially British
three-legged race (17 per cent) and sack race (15 per cent) are cause for concern as
out of shape parents go head-to-head.
Fathers are most likely to need
treatment as a result of a sports day mishap although one in 20 physios has even had to treat
grandparents.
And with half of parents set to attend a
school sports day this year – and nearly half saying they would
take part in one of the events – thousands are potentially putting themselves
at risk.
Commenting on the findings
Dr Peter Mace, assistant medical director at Bupa, which provides
AposTherapy, a pioneering
new therapy for people with
chronic knee and
back pain said: “School sports days can be surprisingly
competitive and parents will want to do their best – even if they happen to be wearing a sack!
“But parents
should remember that it can be
dangerous to go from doing a little or
no exercise to taking part in
competitive sport without taking necessary
precautions – however innocuous that ‘
sport’ might seem to be. Parents should
remember to warm-up thoroughly beforehand,
not overexert themselves during the activity and try to
warm-down afterwards. Otherwise, they run the risk of
injuring themselves – or even worse, developing or exacerbating
chronic conditions.”
Visit www.apostherapy.co.uk to find out more about the pioneering
non-surgical therapy, provided by Bupa that is enabling many Britons to take control of
chronic knee and
back pain.