Sports Injury Clinics Kept Busy at New Zealand Masters Games

Sports Injury Clinics Kept Busy at New Zealand Masters Games

On day four at the Southern Trust New Zealand Masters Games the Sports Injury Clinic co-ordinator, Graeme Harvey, said he and his medic team had treated 170 competitors with injuries. Most injuries have been lower limb injuries from hip to ankle: sprains, strains, ruptures and fractures. The majority of injuries to date have occurred at the two largest competitions at the Games, Netball and Football.

Graeme Harvey, who has run the Games Injury Clinics since the Games began 26 years ago, says that Games competitors who get injured front up in a state of denial.

“Athletes arrive here in a state of disbelief, ‘this can’t happen to me’ or ‘it shouldn’t happen to me’. They want to keep on playing. It’s also amazing the number of people who ask for a strapping just so they can get through the next game. We have to convince them that they can’t go on. The most unfortunate guy was someone who’d travelled down from the North Island and then within the first ten minutes of his first game, had his foot broken when someone fell on top of him.”

It takes a team of 32 to service the three clinics. 19 are sports medics and many of those are medical and physiotherapy students. Under the direction of three doctors and eight physiotherapists, the students witness all types of injuries and treatment methods. The team also includes a massage therapist and a registered nurse. .A massage service is also offered daily at the Games Village.

Graeme Harvey expects the list of injuries to grow later this week when ice hockey, basketball, and touch and matches begin.

ENDS

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