Travelling a very long distance to compete puts athletes at a raised risk of illness, according to new findings.
There is an increasing focus on protecting athletes’ health as well as avoiding injury, write Professor Martin Schwellnus of the Institute of South Africa, and colleagues in the British Journal of Sports Medicine today (August 9).
They set out to discover whether international travel increases the risk of illness in rugby union players taking part in a 16 week competition – the 2010 Super 14 Rugby Union tournament.
The health of 259 elite rugby players from eight teams was documented during the tournament in a daily logbook completed by team doctors. The total number of "player-days" across all the teams was calculated to be 22,676.
The overall rate of illness during the tournament was about 21 per 1,000 player-days. Rates of illness were significantly higher after travelling more than a five hour time zone difference, at 33 days of illness per 1,000 player-days, than before travelling (15 player-days) and after returning home (11 payer-days).
Among the illnesses, respiratory conditions were the most common (at 31 per cent), then gut problems (at 28 per cent), and skin and soft tissue conditions (at 23 per cent). The researchers say the risk was only apparent for outward bound journeys, so unlikely to be due to travelling by aeroplane.
They write: "The results from our study indicate that the illness risk is not directly related to the travel itself, but rather the arrival and location of the team at a distant destination."
They suggest that team physicians could "explore options to reduce the higher incidence of illness" after distant travel, such as limiting the impact of changes in pollution, temperature, allergens, humidity, altitude, different food, germs, and culture.
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