Sports Medicine: Just the Facts

• Management involves prevention. Conservative meas-
  ures such as local mechanical support (supportive
  pressure gradient stockings and abdominal binders
  when the patient is in an upright position) can be effec-
  tive, but sometimes pharmacologic interventions, such
  as sodium chloride tablets or midodrine, are consid-
  ered.

SPECIAL POPULATIONS AND SPECIFIC
SPORT ADAPTATION

• Adapted sports are designed to depart as little as pos-
  sible from the original versions. The following is an
  overview of each sport and its adaptations.


• Archery
  
  
  • Adaptive equipment is allowed, including the fol-
    lowing:
    
    
    1. Trigger releases
    
    
    2. Wrist/elbow supports
    
    
    3. Standing supports
    
    
    4. Bow supports
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• Basketball
  •Five players on a regulation court, following the
  rules of the NCAA. There can be special rules, such
  as no contact, no dribbling, and lower baskets.
  •Bowling
  
  
  • Unmodified, except for the use of devices such as
    bowling sticks and prostheses. Special Olympics
    regulations allow target bowl (i.e., regulation pins,
    2-lb ball, and short and carpeted lanes) and frame
    bowl (i.e., plastic pins, plastic ball, and short lane).
    •Football
  
  
  • Rules vary from league to league.
  
  
  
  


• Hockey
  
  
  • Floor hockey is played in a gymnasium with a felt
    disc, struck with wooden hockey sticks, or fiber-
    glass rods.
  
  
  • Sled hockey is played on an ice rink. Pics are used
    to propel the sleds as well as strike the puck.
  
  
  
  


• Racquetball
  
  
  • Racquetball follows the rules of the American
    Amateur Racquetball Association. In some divi-
    sions, multiple bounces are allowed.
  
  
  
  


• Skiing
  
  
  • Athletes with hemiplegia or amputees can use one
    ski and two outriggers or two skis and two outrig-
    gers. Sit-skis and monoskis are also available for
    participants with muscular dystrophy, spina bifida,
    paraplegia, and cerebral palsy.
  
  
  
  


• Soccer
  •Follows the rules of the U.S. Soccer Federation. The
  field size (usually 80 ×60 m) and the number of
  players (generally seven) are flexible, as goal size
  (for athletes with cerebral palsy).
  
  
  • Swimming
    
    
    • Flotation devices can be used in competition in
      some divisions.
      •Table tennis
      •U.S. Table Tennis Association regulations are used.
    
    
    • Often no distinction between disabled and able-
      bodied competition.
      •Tennis
    
    
    • Wheelchair tennis is played on a regulation-sized
      tennis court by USTA rules, except two bounces are
      allowed.
      •Track and field
    
    
    • Utilize same rules as able-bodied competitors.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

CONTACT INFORMATION

• America’s Athletes with Disabilities
  143 California Ave
  Uniondale, NY 11553


• American Wheelchair Bowling Association
  2912 Country Woods Lane
  Palm Harbor, FL 34683–6417
  727–734–0023


• American Wheelchair Table Tennis Association
  23 Parker St
  Port Chester, NY 10573


• Association of Disabled American Golfers
  7700 E Arapahoe Rd, Suite 350
  Englewood, CO 80112


• Disabled Sports – USA
  451 Hungerford Drive, Suite 100A
  Rockville, MD 20850A
  301–217–0960 http://www.dsusa.org


• International Wheelchair Basketball Federation
  1 Meadow Close
  Shavington, Crewe
  Cheshire CW2 5BE England
  011–44–127–066–8789


• International Wheelchair Tennis Federation
  Bank Lane, Roehampton
  London SW15 5XZ, England
  011–44–181–876–6464


• National Wheelchair Basketball Association
  710 Queensbury Loop
  Winter Garden, FL 34787


• National Wheelchair Tennis Association
  940 Calle Ananecer, Suite B
  San Clemente, CA 92672


• Special Olympics and Special Olympics International
  Kennedy Foundation
  1325 G Street, Suite 500
  Washington, DC 20005


• http://www.specialolympics.org

592 SECTION 7 • SPECIAL POPULATIONS