According to a more modern vision of the role of the physician specialized in sport medicine, whether involving elite athletes or young fencers, it is crucial that any action on the part of the traumatologist must have the primary goal to research and remove some of the causal factors for specific injuries. This cannot be achieved without his input in thoroughly fine-tuning the fencer’s training workload and competitive schedule.

With today’s elite athletes’ intense competitive season and young fencers’ ever-increasing training programme, a trained and experienced sport physician can prolong the career of elite athletes and prevent long term or chronic effects on younger fencers. For this to happen the sport physician’s instructions must be adhered to by coaches and trainers, with particular emphasis on the recommended workload during training and the number of competitions per season.

Bibliography

1. Roi GS, Bianchedi D. The science of fencing: implication for performance and injury prevention. Sport Med. 2008; 38:465-481.
2. Junge A, Engebretsen L, Mountjoy ML, Alonso JM, Renström PA, Aubry MJ, Dvorak J. Sports injuries during the Summer Olympic Games 2008. Am J Sports Med.2009; 37: 2165-2172.