IN FOCUS: SPORTS TREATMENT AND SPORTS HEROES
Provision of treatment for athletes in competitive and mass sports is one of the focus topics at OTWorld 2022. From P&O or medical treatment to the challenges in the care of Paralympic or Olympic athletes - the congress programme, co-chaired by sports physician Prof Dr Martin Engelhardt, covers many different aspects. Guests will include sports icons such as Markus Rehm and Fabian Hambüchen.
Distinguished symposia will focus on the topic of sport and its importance for successful rehabilitation, in cooperation with the Society for Orthopaedic Traumatologic Sports Medicine (GOTS) e.V. and The American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association (AOPA), among others. Top athlete and CPO Markus Rehm - gold medallist in the long jump at the 2021 Paralympics in Tokyo and awarded the title of "Para-Sportsman of the Decade" in 2020 - will be one of the chairs in the sessions on "Sport and prosthetics" and "Athlete's foot, innovative concepts - Re-thinking shoe and insole".
EMPHASIS ON SPORT
GOTS board member Prof Engelhardt will be setting thematic emphasis this year on a broad spectrum that encompasses sports, sports orthopaedics and high-performance sports. The Chief Physician of the Clinic for Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine and Medical Director of Osnabrück Hospital holds the Congress Presidency of OTWorld 2022, together with Dipl.-Ing. Merkur Alimusaj, Head of Technical Orthopaedics at Heidelberg University Hospital. "Sport and Prosthetics" will for instance include discussions on care in parasports, injury frequency as well as the legal entitlement to sports treatment for parasport athletes. Lectures in the symposium "Sport and orthotics" will address the importance of sport for a better quality of life as well as the prevention of sports injuries.
SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS
Highlights of the programme also include a lecture series on "Rehabilitation of veterans and the importance of sport" with Rory Cooper, PhD, US war veteran and founder and principal investigator at the University of Pittsburgh's Human Engineering Research Laboratories (HERL). Topics here include adaptive sports and leisure technologies as well as the impact on people's lives. Other symposia will look at sporting perspectives from specific angles, including biomechanical aspects in sports injuries ("Joint wear and tear" symposium) and "Sporting activity and quality of life after major lower extremity amputation" ("Amputation in young people" symposium).
SPORTING PRESENTATION
Similarly, the International Trade Show at OTWorld reflects the focus topic of sport. One of the first sports stars to attend the next edition has already been confirmed: Former gymnast Fabian Hambüchen. The 2016 Olympic high bar champion will be speaking about his sports injuries and how they were treated at the Aspen Medical Products stand, where he will also be available for autographs and demsonstrate routines on the gymnastics bar.