THE ROLE OF PHYSIOTHERAPY IN TRIATHLON NATIONAL TEAM

Triatlon je jedinstveni sport izdržljivosti sastavljen od tri različite discipline. Budući da se sastoji od elemenata plivanja, biciklizma i trčanja, ozljede karakteristične za te sportove su prisutne i u triatlonu. Zbog ovog razloga, triatlonci su pod povećanim rizikom od nastanka ozljeda. Saniranje ovih ozljeda iziskuje mnogo vremena i resursa što predstavlja problem samome sportašu i cijelome timu. Svrha istraživanja je dokazivanje učinkovitosti fizioterapijskih procedura u saniranju sportskih ozljeda te ukazivanje na važnost provođenja preventivnih mjera sa ciljem smanjenja pojavnosti sportskih ozljeda. Od ukupnog broja ispitanika, svih trinaestero je tokom karijere doživjelo ozljedu baveći se triatlonom. Većina se ozlijedila tokom treninga, pogotovo u području donjih ekstremiteta, s naglaskom na ozljede koljena. Svi ispitanici su koristili konzervativne metode liječenja te je dvoje ispitanika uz konzervativne metode koristilo i operativno tretiranje ozljede. Većina ispitanika provodi osnovne vježbe za prevenciju ozljeda čemu u prilog govori činjenica da se ozljede nisu ponavljale kod većine. Radeći s fizioterapeutom i educirajući se, od strane istog, o različitim fizioterapijskim procedurama, zabilježeno je iznimno pozitivno, subjektivno mišljenje sportaša o važnosti provođenja preventivnih mjera i zadovoljstvo treniranja uz fizioterapeuta. Istraživanje je dobar pokazatelj važnosti fizioterapeuta kao člana sportskog tima, ali imajući na umu činjenicu da je istraživanje izvršeno u kratkome vremenskom periodu i na malome uzorku ispitanika, zaključujemo da je potrebno dalje istražiti ovu temu.The triathlon is an unique sport compiled of three disciplines. Given that it's composed of swimming, cycling and running, injuries specific to those sports are also present in the triathlon. For that very reason the triathletes are under increased risk of injuring. The treatment of said injuries requires a lot of time and resources which presents a problem not only for the athlete but the whole team as well. The purpose of this research is proving the effectivness of physiotherapical procedures in treatment of sports injuries. One of the goals is to show the importance of implementation of preventive measures in reducing the frequency of sports injuries. Every single participant experienced at least one sports injury during his career. Most of them got injured during the training, especially in lower extremities. Most of the injuries involved knees. All of the participants used conservative methods of curing, while two of them had their injuries threated operatively as well. Most of them had been doing injury preventive exercises which is supported by the fact that most of the injuries are not repetitive. The athlete being educated by physiotherapist and working with one, has shown extremely positive opinion about implementation of preventive measures and training with the physiotherapist. This research is good indication how the physiotherapist is crucial part of any sports team. The research was conducted in short time period with relatively small number of participants. Having that in mind, it's concluded that this subject has to be researched further