CGH’s paper on sailing injuries published by top British journal

SINGAPORE — In a landmark moment for Singapore sports medicine, a research study commissioned by World Sailing and led by the Changi General Hospital’s (CGH) Department of Sports Medicine has just been published in the prestigious British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM).

Conceived two years ago and led by principal investigator Dr Benedict Tan — who is the Chief of Sports Medicine at CGH, President of the Singapore Sailing Federation and a member of World Sailing’s Medical Commission — the study is the first in the world to analyse injury statistics among sailors in the three new Olympic classes: men’s 49er, women’s 49er FX, and the Nacra 17.

“As an academic and researcher, it is very prestigious ... it is a feather in the cap,” said Dr Tan on Friday (May 20). “I’m also pleased because BJSM covers a lot of Olympic sports and sailing is one of them ... so the readership is an appropriate one.”

The study tracked sailing-related injuries and illnesses among athletes competing in the 2014 World Championships, which saw 1,167 participants competing across 10 Olympic categories on Santander, Spain. It found that sailors in Olympic classes were sustaining more injuries, but that the injuries were more severe than in the past, with the trend attributed to the introduction of faster and more physically demanding boats since the 2000 Olympics — the men’s 49er, women’s 49er FX and Nacra 17.

Common injuries sustained among these classes include the lower back/lumbar spine, knee, shoulder, and ankle.

With six of the 14 acute fractures reported in the past 12 months coming from the 49erFX class, the foot strap was cited as one of the main causes for injury.

The insights from the study will play a important role in impacting clinical practice in the future, and help in the development of injury prevention intervention.

Added Dr Tan: “The data in the research study will be useful in designing drills and conditioning exercises specific to sailing classes to prevent and reduce sailing injuries. Following a few high profile sailing fatalities, the head injury data we collected will help to facilitate a constructive debate on the mandatory use of helmets in sailing.”

According to Dr Tan, they are also collaborating with a university to design a releasable foot strap to reduce ankle and other injuries in the skiff classes.