Magister Scientiae (Physiotherapy) - MSc(Physio) / Introduction: The majority of University of the Western Cape coaches believe that in most sport codes, many female and male athletes get injured at least once a season. Consequently, occurrence of injuries signifies many set-backs in any team sports. University of the Western Cape sports injury intervention and rehabilitation strategies are relatively under-developed, and have not been systematically implemented, despite their proven effectiveness. However, due to intensive training, local and national league competitions, the number of injured athletes at University of the Western Cape has increased, and so delays of athletes’ recovery are caused. Thus, it is assumed that University of the Western Cape efforts may have lack of the necessary injury precautions on prevention and rehabilitation such as proactive injury treatment, paying special attention to the therapeutic process, including other necessary mechanisms. The current study has explored facilitating factors and some of the barriers on the implementation of injury prevention strategies, and determined the effectiveness of rehabilitation within University of the Western Cape sport teams in views of athletes, coaches, and medical staff. Methods: This study used a sequential exploratory design which entailed an initial phase of quantitative data collection and analysis, followed by a phase of qualitative data collection and analysis. This study used a close-ended survey and semi-structured interviews to identify the barriers and facilitators associated with the implementation of injury prevention strategies among sports clubs at the University of the Western Cape. Results: Data were collected on the general knowledge of players and team coaches about injury prevention as well as their sources of information regarding injury prevention. Football players were 49.5% while 15.8% were basketball players in this study. Cricket players were 10.9% while rugby players were 9.9%. Sources of players’ knowledge of injury prevention included doctor/physiotherapist, coaches and the media. Sources of coaches’ knowledge of injury prevention included doctor/physiotherapist, media and seminars. Most players and coaches agreed that there is a greater chance of sustaining an injury during a competitive match than during training. Players and coaches also agree that the risk of injury is reduced by wearing preferred protective clothing and thoroughly warming up and stretching prior to training or competition. Barriers to the implementation of an injury prevention strategy include not having enough time, being too tired after training, no advice given on such techniques, the notion that nobody else does it and lack of proper equipment. Facilitators of an injury prevention strategy include availability of medical staff (doctors and physiotherapists), players’ understanding of the coach’s instructions, and injury prevention facilities at University of the Western Cape, services accessibility and quality, injury discovery and follow-up, and injury prevention policy at University of the Western Cape. Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations were made: (i) Intervention directed at players and coaches in the form of health promotion programmes through education to increase their knowledge and support in implementation of all prevention strategies either in training or in competition; (ii) Governing bodies at University of the Western Cape should develop and disseminate written sports safety policies and guidelines and supervise clubs in their development programmes.

Master's degree thesis: Criminal aspects in sport SUMMARY The purpose of my thesis is to analyse relationship between sport and Penal Law, especially criminal aspects in sport such as causing injury to another person in sports and bribery in sports. The thesis is composed of six chapters, each of them dealing with different issues. Chapter One concentrates on historical connexion in ancient Greece and Rome. There is a big difference between current sport and sport in that ages, so the opinion of Platon or Solon in this area are really interesting. The chapter Two is subdivided into three parts. Part One describes position of sport in legal order and explains relationship between sport and Penal Law. Part Two deals with specific definition of relation between legal rules and sports rules. Part Three explains the function of sports rules for the purpose of Penal Law. Chapter Three examines criminal lability of sportsmen for causing injury. The chapter consists of four parts. Part One focuses on theories in this area, unfortunately none of them is not global. Part Two describes the legal solutions in Cuba and Ecuador. These state have special legal regulation . Part Three tackles the issue of formal element of crime in sports injury and part four explains which sports misconducts could be classified as crime....

Magister Scientiae (Physiotherapy) - MSc(Physio) / Introduction: The majority of University of the Western Cape coaches believe that in most sport codes, many female and male athletes get injured at least once a season. Consequently, occurrence of injuries signifies many set-backs in any team sports. University of the Western Cape sports injury intervention and rehabilitation strategies are relatively under-developed, and have not been systematically implemented, despite their proven effectiveness. However, due to intensive training, local and national league competitions, the number of injured athletes at University of the Western Cape has increased, and so delays of athletes’ recovery are caused. Thus, it is assumed that University of the Western Cape efforts may have lack of the necessary injury precautions on prevention and rehabilitation such as proactive injury treatment, paying special attention to the therapeutic process, including other necessary mechanisms. The current study has explored facilitating factors and some of the barriers on the implementation of injury prevention strategies, and determined the effectiveness of rehabilitation within University of the Western Cape sport teams in views of athletes, coaches, and medical staff. Methods: This study used a sequential exploratory design which entailed an initial phase of quantitative data collection and analysis, followed by a phase of qualitative data collection and analysis. This study used a close-ended survey and semi-structured interviews to identify the barriers and facilitators associated with the implementation of injury prevention strategies among sports clubs at the University of the Western Cape. Results: Data were collected on the general knowledge of players and team coaches about injury prevention as well as their sources of information regarding injury prevention. Football players were 49.5% while 15.8% were basketball players in this study. Cricket players were 10.9% while rugby players were 9.9%. Sources of players’ knowledge of injury prevention included doctor/physiotherapist, coaches and the media. Sources of coaches’ knowledge of injury prevention included doctor/physiotherapist, media and seminars. Most players and coaches agreed that there is a greater chance of sustaining an injury during a competitive match than during training. Players and coaches also agree that the risk of injury is reduced by wearing preferred protective clothing and thoroughly warming up and stretching prior to training or competition. Barriers to the implementation of an injury prevention strategy include not having enough time, being too tired after training, no advice given on such techniques, the notion that nobody else does it and lack of proper equipment. Facilitators of an injury prevention strategy include availability of medical staff (doctors and physiotherapists), players’ understanding of the coach’s instructions, and injury prevention facilities at University of the Western Cape, services accessibility and quality, injury discovery and follow-up, and injury prevention policy at University of the Western Cape. Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations were made: (i) Intervention directed at players and coaches in the form of health promotion programmes through education to increase their knowledge and support in implementation of all prevention strategies either in training or in competition; (ii) Governing bodies at University of the Western Cape should develop and disseminate written sports safety policies and guidelines and supervise clubs in their development programmes.

Injury can be a very stressful experience for an elite athlete. To facilitate recovery, it is important to understand the psychological dynamics involved in the injury state. The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of the coach-athlete relationship on injury reporting decisions. Six varsity swimmers from a Canadian university were interviewed about their experiences of athletic injury and the coach-athlete relationship. The data also revealed additional salient factors in the athletes’ disclosure decisions. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a grounded theory approach and several key factors were found: identity, pain, frustration, coping, power, trust, caring/openness, investment, isolation, and atmosphere. These factors were organized into three categories: individual, coach-athlete, and team. The PI-AIR (Psychosocial Influences on Athletic Injury Reporting) model was developed to organize the categories into a single framework. The model is discussed in relation to current theory along with limitations of the study and future directions.

Injury can be a very stressful experience for an elite athlete. To facilitate recovery, it is important to understand the psychological dynamics involved in the injury state. The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of the coach-athlete relationship on injury reporting decisions. Six varsity swimmers from a Canadian university were interviewed about their experiences of athletic injury and the coach-athlete relationship. The data also revealed additional salient factors in the athletes’ disclosure decisions. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a grounded theory approach and several key factors were found: identity, pain, frustration, coping, power, trust, caring/openness, investment, isolation, and atmosphere. These factors were organized into three categories: individual, coach-athlete, and team. The PI-AIR (Psychosocial Influences on Athletic Injury Reporting) model was developed to organize the categories into a single framework. The model is discussed in relation to current theory along with limitations of the study and future directions.

The thesis deals with the issue of criminal liability for actions occurring in the field of sport. Specifically, it chooses and examines the fields of sports injuries caused between athletes and corruption in sport. In its broadest conception it is divided into three parts. In the initial part the specifics of the society-wide phenomenon sport and substantial "non-legal" concepts of issues are described, in particular concept of sport, its category, the autonomy of sport and sport rules are defined here. The main part deals with the issue of criminal liability of athletes for causing injury to another. Whether certain actions involving a sports injury meets the definition of a crime is discussed in the context of current legislation. Followed by the research of the possible application of the concrete legal defenses for mentioned actions. For example researched legal defenses are consent of the victim or excusable risk. In this section are most mentioned and analyzed the selected theories of sports and legal doctrines that are often based on similar concepts as concrete legal defenses. Maybe the most substantial de lege ferenda considerations follow that describe possible solutions involving the definitions of sports excess and the special legal defense - sports risk. The interesting practice of...

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / Background: Season-ending injuries, particularly those to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), continue at a high-rate in many sports, particularly ski racing. Although many factors are thought to contribute to this injury rate in both genders, no study has looked at possible psychological influences. Hypothesis: There is a form of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that affects athletes after seeing someone in their own sport sustain a serious injury. The result could be a decrease in performance both on and off the mountain. In the worst-case scenario, this change in tactics could result in injury to themselves, representing an "injury contagion". Study Design: Case-control study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Students at four Eastern ski academies were studied for 3 consecutive years (2002-2005). The subjects ranged in age from 13-19 and consisted of 277 men (60.3%) and 182 women (39.7% ). When a subject sustained a season-ending injury, a peer group of that subject was tested for both psychological and performance effects. The results of this testing was compared to previous baseline testing and a similarly constructed control group from an academy without such an injury. Results: There were twelve season-ending injuries sustained over the three-year period. Significant data results were obtained from one aspect of the psychological testing of the peer group. There was a trend toward a possible "injury contagion" i.e. injury to a member of the peer group soon after injury to a teammate. Conclusions: Although the results of this study were inconclusive in establishing the existence of an "injury contagion", there were data to establish a psychological affect on some athletes after injury to one of their teammates. Clinical Relevance: Although a teammate's injury did not measurably effect performance and only showed mild evidence of a possible injury contagion, there were significant psychological affects noted in female subjects. School personnel should be trained in basic counseling techniques specific to this problem.

Yes / Rugby Union and Rugby League are popular sports with high participation across the world. The high impact nature of the sport results in a high proportion of injuries. Rugby has an association with cervical spine injury which has potentially catastrophic consequences for the patient. Anecdotal evidence suggests that radiographers find it challenging to visualise the cervicothoracic junction on the lateral supine cervical spine projection in broad shouldered athletes. This paper intends to analyse the risk factors for cervical spine injuries in rugby and discuss the imaging strategy in respect to radiography and CT scanning in high risk patient groups such as rugby players who are suspected of suffering a cervical spine injury.

Magister Scientiae (Physiotherapy) - MSc(Physio) / Basketball continues to increase in popularity worldwide as a participation sport at all levels of play, from recreational to professional. Each year, more than 1.6 million basketball-related injuries are treated in hospitals, Doctor's offices and emergency rooms in North America. In Rwanda, basketball and volleyball are the second popular sports, following football. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence, mechanisms, nature and management of basketball related-injuries in Rwanda. The study design was retrospective survey over period of nine months. The study included all players of 12 teams. A structured self-administered questionnaire with closed-ended questions was used to gather information from basketball players. The questionnaire was adapted from the validated questionnaire used in a study on knee injury patterns among young basketball players in Cape Town. A response of 86.7% was obtained. The collected data were captured and analyzed by means of the Microsoft Excel package and SPSS. The associations between variables were evaluated by means of the chi-square test and 5% level of significance was used. The results were displayed using tables, bar chart, pie chart and graphs. All basketball players rep01ted to sustain one or more injuries. The injury rate was 3.6 injuries per player per season. The injmy prevalence was high during training (77%) compared to competition (23%). Ankle followed by fingers and knee were the most body parts involved. The most common mechanism of injury was landing badly. Self-treatment was a type of treatment mostly used by basketball players. The prevalence of basketball injury is high in Rwanda. The implementation of preventive strategies is of a paramount. A strong promotional campaign of physiotherapy services is needed, for adequate treatment and good rehabilitation of basketball players after injury.

Although sports and other forms of physical activities are associated with numerous health benefits, adolescent sports injury has emerged as an important public health problem. As the most immediate caregivers for athletes, coaches are expected to play an important role in preventing and reducing injuries, -considering that sports medical staff, such as athletic trainers are not always available to care for athletes. However, research on coaches' beliefs and practices related to injury prevention has been limited to coaching competency issues, in which injury prevention is considered only one component. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to describe the coaches' beliefs and knowledge pertaining to sports injury and their readiness for injury prevention practice to be incorporated into high school settings. The research questions are: (1) What are the coaches' beliefs and knowledge related to sports injury and their readiness for injury prevention practice?; (2) What are the relationships between coaches' beliefs and knowledge pertaining to sports injury and readiness for injury prevention practice?; and (3) What are the differences in coach-related factors between the coaches who have medical staff and those who do not? The participants in the study had average to low perceptions regarding injuries on their team. The knowledge score related to sports injury was not high. However, a majority of the coaches showed strong beliefs in favor of implementing injury prevention interventions as an effective way to prevent and reduce sports injuries. Supporting previous studies, the present study revealed strong associations between self-efficacy and the injury prevention behaviors assessed. It was also found that coaches who employed medical staff were approximately four times more likely to provide injury prevention programs to their athletes and have emergency plans. Findings from this study will provide a broader understanding of coaches' perceptions regarding sports injury, injury prevention interventions conducted by coaches, and the implications for developing quality coaching programs and policies to prevent and reduce sports injuries.