2012 Ontario Summer Games
The Ontario Summer Games are Ontario's largest multi-sport event, including both team and individual sports and a showcase for amateur sport. In 2012, Toronto hosted the games from August 16-19, 2012. For more information about the Ontario Summer Games, please click here.
2012 marks the first year that the Ontario Summer Games will include an injury prevention program. This program, implemented by Play Safe Initiative, in collaboration with the RBC First Office for Injury Prevention at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, will include a formal method of sports injury surveillance, reporting, data collection, and data analyses. Injury surveillance and reporting by medical volunteers and coaches are invaluable tools for helping to identify specific injury risk factors, and sports-specific common injuries, and thus produce and implement injury prevention techniques, thereby creating a safer sports environment for athletes. We have modeled our survey system after the injury surveillance system created by the International Olympic Committee, which has been successfully used in the 2004, 2008, and 2010 Olympics, and will be used for the upcoming 2012 London Olympic Games.
All injury report forms will be collected daily and data will be entered into a secure, online database for data analysis. This information will be used to aid in further awareness of sport-specific common injury, and in injury prevention. Our end result: Ontario will serve as a model to Canada and the world by demonstrating the collaborative power of a multi-organization/multi-sector effort building a participant-centred injury surveillance and prevention strategy that crosses the boundaries of sport, recreation, health and education.
Defining “Injury”
In order to ensure accuracy, reliability, and validity of data, a consensus of the term “injury” must be reached. For all intents and purposes, an injury is defined as “any musculo-skeletal complaint newly incurred due to competition and/or training during the tournament that received medical attention regardless of the consequences with respect to absence from competition or training” (Junge et al., 2008).
Concussion Education Sessions
In addition to daily injury reporting, PSI and The Medical/Injury Prevention Committee will be hosting concussion education sessions at the OSG athlete's residences throughout the games, as part of the injury prevention education strategy. These sessions will be held to help bring awareness to concussions, and also to educate athletes, coaches, and trainers on concussion risk factors, return to play information, and concussion prevention tips. During the sessions we will be covering important information including; general brain function, concussion causes and symptoms, and concussion and brain injury prevention strategies. All sessions have been designed by a concussion expert and will be delivered by qualified volunteers (Athletic Therapists, PhDs, PhD Candidates, Athletic Therapist Candidates, etc).
2012 marks the first year that the Ontario Summer Games will include an injury prevention program. This program, implemented by Play Safe Initiative, in collaboration with the RBC First Office for Injury Prevention at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, will include a formal method of sports injury surveillance, reporting, data collection, and data analyses. Injury surveillance and reporting by medical volunteers and coaches are invaluable tools for helping to identify specific injury risk factors, and sports-specific common injuries, and thus produce and implement injury prevention techniques, thereby creating a safer sports environment for athletes. We have modeled our survey system after the injury surveillance system created by the International Olympic Committee, which has been successfully used in the 2004, 2008, and 2010 Olympics, and will be used for the upcoming 2012 London Olympic Games.
All injury report forms will be collected daily and data will be entered into a secure, online database for data analysis. This information will be used to aid in further awareness of sport-specific common injury, and in injury prevention. Our end result: Ontario will serve as a model to Canada and the world by demonstrating the collaborative power of a multi-organization/multi-sector effort building a participant-centred injury surveillance and prevention strategy that crosses the boundaries of sport, recreation, health and education.
Defining “Injury”
In order to ensure accuracy, reliability, and validity of data, a consensus of the term “injury” must be reached. For all intents and purposes, an injury is defined as “any musculo-skeletal complaint newly incurred due to competition and/or training during the tournament that received medical attention regardless of the consequences with respect to absence from competition or training” (Junge et al., 2008).
Concussion Education Sessions
In addition to daily injury reporting, PSI and The Medical/Injury Prevention Committee will be hosting concussion education sessions at the OSG athlete's residences throughout the games, as part of the injury prevention education strategy. These sessions will be held to help bring awareness to concussions, and also to educate athletes, coaches, and trainers on concussion risk factors, return to play information, and concussion prevention tips. During the sessions we will be covering important information including; general brain function, concussion causes and symptoms, and concussion and brain injury prevention strategies. All sessions have been designed by a concussion expert and will be delivered by qualified volunteers (Athletic Therapists, PhDs, PhD Candidates, Athletic Therapist Candidates, etc).