Injury characteristics of Indonesian para-athletes prior to Tokyo Olympics 2020: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Sports for people with disabilities and injuries have been the subject of discourse in the professional literature in the fields of traumatology and sports medicine. OBJECTIVE: This research aims to elucidate the injury characteristics of athletes in the Indonesian national team. The subject of this study were nine athletes (male=5, female=4) with males around the age of 28±9.13 and females 28±5.66 years. METHOD: The method approach is descriptive with a cross-sectional study technique using a questionnaire about injury history, types of injury, injury factors, and injury management for Indonesian Para Athletics Athletes who have competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Data analysis is depicted in numbers and percentages and Fisher's exact test to determine the relationship between variables. RESULTS: The study results reported that Indonesian athletes suffered injuries of the lower limbs (70%), part of the body that is frequently injured was the thigh (28%) and the type of injury that was often experienced sprain/twist. CONCLUSION: The injury characteristics in the sprint (track) category form a pattern of injuries to the thigh, Achilles tendon, ankle, and knee. There appears to be no correlation between gender, training frequency, injury share, match number, and warm-up type. The implication is that injury management is necessary before and during competition by considering biomechanics, pathophysiology, and psychosocial problems. Injury prevention strategies by coaches and medical teams should lead to more significant injury reduction and optimize athletes' health, safety, and well-being.