Dirk Nowitzki and other Professional Athletes expected
At this year's OTWorld 2022, professional treatment and care for athletes is one of the topics in focus at numerous symposia, lectures, courses and factory talks. The congress programme offers a wide range of subjects from sports orthopaedics to high-performance sports. Top athletes including Dirk Nowitzki, Fabian Hambüchen and Léon Schäfer are expected to attend.
Several high-profile professional athletes have announced they will be coming to the International Trade Show. These will include the sprinter and long-jumper Léon Schäfer who won a medal at the Paralympic Summer Games in Tokyo as well as the bilateral lower limb amputee and sprinter Johannes Floors. The 400-meters gold medal winner at the 2021 Paralympic Games is also corporate ambassador for Ottobock. On 10 May, the Paralympic stars will be talking about their experiences and signing autographs at the Ottobock booth.
The former Paralympic gold medal winner Heinrich Popow will also be at OTWorld once again. The track and field athlete has won several Paralympic gold medals and is also world and European champion in long jump and sprint. On 10 May at the Ottobock booth, he will be talking about his personal highlights.
The javelin thrower Thomas Röhler, Olympic champion in 2016 and European champion in 2018, will be at the Bauernfeind booth on 10 May to talk about how he fought his way back to top form after a back injury and his experiences with orthopaedic medical aids.
Former gymnast and 2016 Olympic champion on the bar Fabian Hambüchen will be at the Aspen Medical Products booth to tell visitors about his sports injuries and the treatment concepts applied.
On 12 May at the Bauernfeind booth, professional basketball player Dirk Nowitzki will hold a lecture providing thrilling insights into his impressive career.
Sporting Highlights in the Congress Programme
In various formats during the four days of the event, high-profile speakers will report on the latest scientific findings and present best practices in both amateur and professional sports. Congress Presidents Prof Engelhardt and Dipl.-Ing. Merkur Alimusaj have put together a congress programme containing several sporting highlights. Some of the contributions were developed together with the Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatic Sports Medicine (GOTS) and the American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association (AOPA).
The lecture series at the satellite symposium Sport and Orthotics on 12 May will address the significance of sport for a better quality of life and the importance of preventing sports injuries, as well as orthotic treatment for athletes.
Particular focus will be placed on the topics of caring for para-athletes in winter and summer, prosthetic care and treatment, and legal care rights for athletes at the satellite symposium lectures on Sport and Prosthetics on 13 May.
Subjects such as prosthetics and orthotics in treatment and care for feet and ankles as well as the scope and limits of surgery to preserve joints and retain the ability to take part in sports will be examined at the symposium entitled Ankle Injuries and Sport – an International Viewpoint on 13 May.
Sport as an Integral Part of Life
Footballers with leg amputations who belong to the "Anpfiff ins Leben" club are proof that it is perfectly possible to play football despite amputations. With the support of the Aktion Mensch organisation, a nationwide pilot project called "Amputierten-Fußball im Verein" (club football for amputee players) was initiated in 2019. Since then, many more amputee football teams have been founded throughout Germany and in 2021, the official national league tables for amputee football were founded.
In Hall 1 at booth B48/D49, amputee footballers will have their own football pitch where they will be demonstrating their skills in special matches on all four days of the event. Visitors can also test their sporting skills at the football target wall or the speed-shooting on crutches contest.
