Title

Wilderness Preparticipation Evaluation and Considerations for Special Populations

Abstract

Children, older adults, disabled and special needs athletes, and female athletes who participate in outdoor and wilderness sports and activities each face unique risks. For children and adolescents traveling to high altitude, the preparticipation physical evaluation should focus on risk assessment, prevention strategies, early recognition of altitude-related symptoms, management plans, and appropriate follow-up. As the risk and prevalence of chronic disease increases with age, both older patients and providers need to be aware of disease and medication-specific risks relative to wilderness sport and activity participation. Disabled and special needs athletes benefit from careful pre-event planning for the potential medical issues and equipment modifications that may affect their health in wilderness environments. Issues that demand special consideration for female adventurers include pregnancy, contraceptive use, menses, and ferritin levels at altitude. A careful preparticipation evaluation that factors in unique, population-specific risks will help special populations stay healthy and safe on wilderness adventures. The PubMed and SportDiscus databases were searched in 2014 using both MeSH terms and text words and include peer-reviewed English language articles from 1977 to 2014. Additional information was accessed from Web-based sources to produce this narrative review on preparticipation evaluation for special populations undertaking wilderness adventures. Key words include children, adolescent, pediatric, seniors, elderly, disabled, special needs, female, athlete, preparticipiation examination, wilderness medicine, and sports.

Department(s)

Occupational Therapy

Document Type

Article

Additional Information

This article appears in a “Care of the Wilderness and Adventure Athlete” special issue, jointly published by Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine and Wilderness & Environmental Medicine. Each journal has their own citation and DOI for the article.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1097/JSM.0000000000000251

Keywords

altitude, disabled and special needs athlete, older adult, pediatrics, pregnancy, Preparticipation evaluation

Publication Date

1-1-2015

Journal Title

Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine

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