The United World Wrestling Medical Commission has established a new program to help optimize the prevention of wrestling injuries that involves special education and working with referees to recognize and prevent dangerous situations during official competitions.
Dr. Babak Shadgan, a member of UWW, presented on the topic of prevention of injuries by referees at the 2020 International Federations Medical Commission Chairpersons Meeting in Monaco, March 10-11.
“We hypothesized that prompt and proper actions of referees to stop dangerous actions and faults could reduce the incidence and severity of wrestling injuries significantly,” said Shadgan.
To test the hypothesis, a prospective observational study was conducted at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, an event held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in October of 2018. The purpose of the observational study was to evaluate the potential effect of a proactive and extra cautious referee practice on reducing the rate and severity of injuries.
“We showed that proactive and cautious actions of wrestling referees to promptly stop dangerous actions have the potential to reduce the rate and severity of injuries in wrestling significantly,” said Shadgan. “This is a novel approach to the prevention of sports injuries.”
Based on Shadgan’s presentation, the IOC Medical Commission has decided to consider a workshop on the prevention of sports injuries by modifications of sport regulations during the IOC-IF Medical Commissions meeting in February of 2021.
Surce: www.unitedworldwrestling.org
