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Sports Activities & Orthopaedic Practice chosen as theme of 18th EFORT Congress
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VIENNA — EFORT has chosen Sports Activities & Orthopaedic Practice as the main theme for the 18th Annual EFORT Congress in Vienna to help surgeons guide patients back to sports after injury.
“In our modern society, sport is an essential element to maintain health and physical fitness,” Jan Verhaar, MD, PhD, EFORT president and chair of the Department of Orthopaedics at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, said. “Sport also has many positive psychological and social elements.”
Sport participants often sustain acute, traumatic or chronic injuries due to overuse. These patients, as well as those with non-sport-related musculoskeletal conditions, hope to find a path to quick recovery and return to sport as soon as possible.
“We believe all orthopaedic and trauma surgeons see patients who want to be treated for injuries or want to be advised about their specific musculoskeletal condition and the options or limitations in continuing or starting sports,” Verhaar said.
Several symposia presented at the EFORT Congress coincide with this year’s theme and cover various orthopaedic specialties.
In the symposium “Prevention and Orthopaedic Management of the Most Frequent Football Injuries,” panelists will discuss how to prevent injuries in soccer and how to treat these injuries effectively. “Football is widely played by more than 270 million players in the world. Unfortunately, like other contact sports, it also carries a significant risk for injuries involving muscles, tendons, ligaments and osteochondral tissues,” said moderator Gian
Luigi Canata, MD, director of the Centre of Sports Traumatology at Koelliker Hospital in Turin, Italy. “There is growing scientific evidence that preventive measures could reduce the incidence of injuries and keep a higher percentage of players healthy.”
In the symposium “Orthopaedics & Trauma Surgery in the World of Formula 1,” panelists will discuss the often unaddressed topic of the athletic level of drivers and their common injuries. “Every other sport may cause some specific type of acute and chronic injuries, and Formula 1 racing is not an exclusion,” said moderator Fatih Kucukdurmaz, MD, associate professor in the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology at Bezmialem Vakif University in Istanbul. “This symposium may show the limited awareness about the athletic performance of Formula 1 drivers among physicians.”
In “Complex Case Discussion: Return to Sport Activities after Orthopaedic & Trauma Surgery in Obese Patients,” panelists will address the need to advise obese patients who want to return to sport activities, as well as the importance of combining exercise with a better diet. Other symposia that represent the Congress’s theme include “Return to Sports after Surgery for Degenerative Knee,” “Management in Knee Injuries in Professional Alpine Skiers” and “Anterior and Posterior, Acute, Chronic and Sports-Related Sternoclavicular Dislocations.” Several free papers and general discussions will also address the theme.
Verhaar hopes Congress attendees will come away from these sessions realizing the importance of sport activity involvement for many orthopaedic patients. He recommended attendees actively contribute to the discussions by asking critical questions of the speakers and sharing their own personal experiences.
“The success of our meeting is also dependent on that highly valued interaction,” he said.
Disclosures: Canata, Kucukdurmaz and Verhaar report no relevant financial disclosures.