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Conroy C.1
1Midwestern University, Physical Therapy, Elk Grove Village, United States
Background: Mass endurance athletic events require high levels of interprofessional cooperation and collaboration. Marathons in particular are an event that regularly utilizes this collaborative style of medical practice. While there is some literature regarding the role of physicians as medical director for these type of events, the roles of other medical personnel remain ambiguous. This may be due to the nature of mass endurance events themselves and the unique utilization of medical personnel to organize and operate such events effectively in order to maintain the health and wellbeing of participants, event volunteers and the public. The role of the physical therapist is vital in this interprofessional environment. However, no study has yet been completed to describe physical therapist practice in mass endurance athletic events.
Purpose: The objectives of this study were:
(1) to describe physical therapist management and utilization for participants on the course and immediate post-marathon race
(2) to describe general marathon flow and variables that may shift a physical therapist's primary responsibilities in the interprofessional team.
(1) to describe physical therapist management and utilization for participants on the course and immediate post-marathon race
(2) to describe general marathon flow and variables that may shift a physical therapist's primary responsibilities in the interprofessional team.
Methods: This was a descriptive study of physical therapist services provided at the Chicago Marathon from 2010-2015.
Frameworks utilized include those by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), NIMS (National Incident Management System), ICS (Incident Command Systems), and UC (Unified Command), American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), American Red Cross new Patient Connection Program (PCP), and Bank of America Chicago Marathon (BACCM; Chicago, Illinois USA) data visualization system. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data.
Results: Physical Therapists provided services in the capacity of: lead musculoskeletal interventions, secondary musculoskeletal interventions, triage, code team and finish-line sweep Physical Therapists work closely and collaboratively with many other professions during a mass endua.
Conclusion(s): This study provides information on common utilization of physical therapist service and more unique, or non-traditional roles, in a unique interprofessional environment that may be provided by physical therapist in endurance athletic events.
Implications: Physical Therapists may provide multiple roles during mass athletic endurance events. Physical Therapists need to be open to and aware of some less traditional roles in order to provide effective and optimal interprofessional services to participants, volunteers and the public at these events.
Funding acknowledgements: No funding was provided for this study.
Topic: Sport & sports injuries
Ethics approval: As a descriptive study an IRB application was not made. There were no subjects included in this study.
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
