Injuries and Medical Issues in Synchronized Olympic Sports

Abstract

Spectators of the Olympic Games can enjoy a wide variety of sports, including strength, team, timed, endurance, and artistic sports. In the Olympic program, there are two synchronized events: synchronized diving and synchronized swimming. The precision of the synchronization of the athlete's movements and skills is an added feature of entertainment. Synchronized athletes have additional training requirements to perfect the synchronization of their skills. The physical demands on the athlete from the repetition of training required for the perfection of synchronization result in injuries unique to these sports. Although both traumatic and overuse injuries occur, overuse injuries are more common. As these disciplines are artistic, judged sports, these athletes also are susceptible to eating disorders and the female athlete triad. This article reviews the training regimen of these athletes and outlines the injuries and health concerns that are common in the synchronized sports.

Nutrition for Synchronized Swimming: A Review

“…In addition there may be four sessions dedicated to improving flexibility, four to six sessions of cross-training, plus two to three resistance training. Overall it is a high-volume and high-intensity training program (Mountjoy, 2009), with the exception of periods devoted to choreography when much time may Scholarly reviewS be spent in the pool but with limited energy expenditure (Price & Carlsen, personal communication). Liang, Arnaud, Steele, Hatch, and Moreno (2005) found that the U.S. Olympic team trained 1,690 hr/ year, compared with around 1,000 for similar standard gymnasts.…”

“…Synchronized swimming combines aerobic and anaerobic fitness, endurance, flexibility, strength, power, acrobatic and performance skills, and choreography, requiring long hours of training to attain such broad attributes (Mountjoy, 2009). Synchronized swimming athletes often start recreationally and may enter highlevel competition at a young age of around 13-15 years (Mountjoy, 1999).…”

Nutritional Recommendations for Synchronized Swimming

“…Olympic-level synchronized swimmers have a highvolume and high-intensity training program of 7 hr/day for 6 days/week (Mountjoy, 2009 …”

“…The athletes must also precisely synchronize their movements with one or more teammates and the music. Producing the desired performance outcome requires that synchronized swimmers train for long hours in a variety of exercise modalities (Mountjoy, 2009).…”

As Diferentes Fases Do Ciclo Menstrual Não Influenciam O Rendimento De Atletas De Nado Sincronizado

“…As alterações destes hormônios podem promover alterações emocionais, cognitivos e físicos decorrentes do ciclo menstrual podendo acarretar mudanças no desempenho físico, sobretudo na temperatura corporal e do metabolismo 4 . Considerando a modalidade esportiva nado sincronizado (NS), sabe-se que traz uma série de demandas fisiológicas e técnicas durante sua prática 5 . Um estudo 6 de revisão sistemática identificou e discutiu as respostas fisiológicas em diferentes provas da modalidade, provas de e rotinas (coreografias), livres e obrigatórias 6 .…”