In 2007 our team was solicited by the Département ministériel des Sports to develop a concept of sports injury prevention for young athletes in Luxembourg. An applied research project was thus implemented at the Sportlycée to meet this request. The main aspect of the prevention concept is to ensure a permanent sports injury surveillance to quantify the risk and to sensitise involved actors in the field. The latter can follow the risk indicators of every athlete and receive recommendations on prevention initiatives to implement.

After 3 years the outcome is positive

After several years of follow-up the project proved to have been well worth the effort. The main conclusion of this year’s results is that the sports injuries of the young athletes at the Sportlycée are considerably reduced compared to previous years. This tendency is confirmed by a decrease of the proportion of injured athletes, of injury frequency and of injury incidence. Several observations suggest a positive change in the general context: in comparison to the previous year, we found a reduction of recurrent, overload and “intrinsic” injuries related to athlete behaviour.

This project, which initiated the development of the TIPPS software, will now be extended to other young athletes in Luxembourg thanks to the financial support of COSL (Comité Olympique et Sportif Luxembourgeois) and of the Olympic Solidarity of the International Olympic Committee.

View results of the 2010/11 follow-up:

Thanks to the support of the Département ministériel des Sports, the Sports Medicine Research Laboratory of CRP-Santé has initiated an injury surveillance program of young athletes from Luxembourg. The focus has been on the pupils of the Sportlycée since a few years now, and the impact on involved stakeholders seems to have come to fruition. The main outcome of the 2010/11 follow-up is that the number of sports injuries of the young athletes at the Sportlycée has decreased considerably over the years. This is reflected by several indicators:

1. The proportion of injured athletes has decreased to 67% (versus 73% and 74% in 2009 and 2010, respectively).

2. The frequency of injuries has dropped to 1.3 injuries per athlete (versus 1.7 and 1.9 in the two previous years)

3. Global injury incidence has decreased from 3.7 in 2009 and 4.5 in 2010 to 2.8 injuries/1000 hours of practice this year.

Furthermore, several results suggest a positive change of the general context. Compared to the previous year, we observed a favourable reduction in recurrent injuries from 26.5% to 10.9% of all injuries registered. This observation could be attributed to the personalised rehabilitation proposed to injured athletes by the physical therapists before returning to full sports practice. There was also a decrease in progressive overload injuries in terms of proportion of registered injuries, from 28.7% to 21.9%, and in terms of injury incidence, from 3.9 to 2.0 injuries/1000 hours. Again, the critical work of the physical therapists, as well as the general movement and physical training modules (PPG/PMG) proposed by the Sportlycée seem to have had a positive influence. These factors may also explain the reduction of intrinsic injuries compared to the previous years. In 16% of the cases, the injured athlete still chooses to participate in competition, but this number is lower than the 32% of last year. This favourable evolution may result from a greater awareness of the athletes, their trainers and other involved actors about the sports injury problematic.

Some aspects deserve further attention for future sports injury prevention initiatives. Team sports remain the category with the greatest injury risk, displaying a high injury incidence and a relative injury risk of 2 to 3 times greater compared to other sport categories. They also have a particularly high injury rate in the first trimester, a characteristic hardly noticed in other sports. Injury severity and type have changed little compared to previous years. The lower limbs, the lumbar region and the pelvis representing 75% of all injuries, are slightly on the rise and should remain the major focus for prevention exercises, especially in team sports in the first trimester.  

www.sport-sante.lu 

Numerous studies have demonstrated the positive impact of regular exercise in the treatment of a range of diseases (cancer, depression, neurological disorders, heart and lung diseases, metabolic diseases as well as muscle, bone and joint diseases). Since 2013, 'Œuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte' shows its interest in this important topic and accordingly assigned the Sports Medicine Research Laboratory of the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) the mission to carry out the project ‘Sport-Santé’.

Our objectives

The project ‘Sport-Santé’ aims to support the promotion in Luxembourg of physical activity as a therapeutic adjuvant and a means for health protection after an illness or an accident. This project, which is supported by ‘Œuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte’, has three main objectives: to increase the number of participants in existing groups offering therapeutic physical exercise, to increase the offer of therapeutic sports and to maintain this offer.

Our initiatives

The objectives of the project ‘Sport-Santé’ will be pursued through several initiatives:

➝ Launch of a national awareness campaign (construction of an Internet portal, organisation of informative conferences, flyers distribution, etc.)
➝ Advocacy and logistical support for the current therapeutic groups
➝ Support for the development of the offer of therapeutic sports on the territory.

The success of the project ‘Sport-Santé’ depends on the involvement of all stakeholders: patients, trainers, health professionals and public authorities. This mobilisation must be supported over time in order to both develop innovative practical solutions and to render the project sustainable.

www.cardiac-event-sport.lu 

Sports practice is like the Roman God Janus, it has two faces. On the one hand, regular physical activity promotes health and reduces cardiovascular risk factors. On the other hand, the risk of heart failures is increased during and immediately after exercise. These sports-related cardiac events concern both untrained and well-trained athletes with no previously known cardiac diseases.

Sports-related sudden cardiac death in the general population is more frequent than often suspected. However it often occurs in a predictable setting, allowing preventing measures, prompt interventions and improving survival rates.

Aware of the current lack of systematic information on sports-related cardiac events in Luxembourg, the SRMCV approached the Sports Medicine Research Laboratory of LIH for the present project. The general aim is to determine the sports-related cardiac event burden in Luxembourg and recommend appropriate risk mitigation strategies.

If you have witnessed or experienced a SCE during or immediately after a sport activity, we kindly ask you to complete this short questionnaire in order to contribute to the Luxembourg database.