24/01/2017 12:00 AM
A senior delegation from Aspetar, the orthopaedic and sports medicine hospital, has recently concluded their visit to Paris to take part in the "Medicine of Champions, evolving medicine" event, a major sports medicine congress held on the sidelines of the 2017 Handball World Championship held in France from 11th to 29th of January 2017.
Organised by the French Handball Federation in association with the International Handball Federation (IHF) and in partnership with Aspetar, the international medical congress took place on the 20th and 21st of January at the French National Olympic and Sports Committee.
The congress brought together scores of the industry’s most influential practitioners from around the world to share insights and expertise, compare best practices and exchange research and prevention methods for injuries sustained during handball tournaments.
Dr. Mohamed Ghaith Al-Kuwari, Acting Director General of Aspetar, led the delegation which included a number of sports medicine experts and researchers from the hospital.
Commenting on Aspetar’s involvement in the 2017 congress, Dr. Al-Kuwari said:
Aspetar took part in this year’s medical congress held in parallel with the 2017 Handball World Championship to discuss several topics relevant to sports medicine and keep abreast of the latest developments in handball injuries. Our participation complements our efforts in providing medical coverage, education and research in the field of handball injuries that began in 2015 by organising the Conference on New Sports Medicine Concepts in Handball on the sidelines of the 2015 Men’s Handball World Championship.
During this event, we discussed the results of our survey on handball injuries from the 2015 Handball World Competition. We also shared best practices and research results on the prevention and reduction of injuries sustained during handball matches, and provided suggestions on how to improve treatment methodology and enrich our staff with knowledge in order to assist athletes in achieving their maximum performance and full potential during international competitions. We also had the opportunity to introduce our handball medical services to the participants at the congress with great feedback.
Commenting on the event, Professor Hosny A. Ahmed, Chairman of the IHF Anti Doping Unit, said:
In 2015, we had the opportunity to collaborate with Aspetar and the Qatar Handball Association during the Conference on New Sports Medicine Concepts in Handball. This was a great success and a distinguished panel of professional and world renowned speakers facilitated academic and clinical exchanges on a range of important topics. The insights and approaches shared will prove enormously beneficial to coaches in the development of their training methodologies. We’re keen to repeat the experience and explore opportunities for increasing levels of collaboration with Aspetar’s scientific team, and build on the insightful and in-depth research that Aspetar has previously produced, such as the systematic surveillance of athlete injury and illness conducted during the 2015 Men’s Handball World Championship in Qatar.
During the two-day congress, more than 40 leading experts took to the stage, including Aspetar’s experts.
On day one, a number of distinguished guests delivered opening remarks including: Hassan Moustafa, President, IHF; Joël Delplanque, President, French Handball Federation; and Dr. Mohamed Ghaith Al-Kuwari.
Aspetar’s speakers also highlighted the hospital’s experience in preparing for extended tournaments following their participation in the 2015 Men’s Handball World Championship. Under the theme ‘Evolution in Talent Scouting and Athletes Follow-up’, Aspetar’s experts discussed the preparations that are required from medical services teams to ensure they can meet the potential demands of athletes during lengthy handball tournaments. Aspetar gained considerable experience during the 24th Men’s Handball World Championship that was held in Doha in 2015, during which the hospital provided its internationally renowned services to the world’s leading players for the entirety of the tournament.
On day two, Aspetar’s sports medicine experts delivered a unique session tackling one of the most challenging topics in handball medicine – how to manage medial instability of the elbow in handball players.
The congress also featured Claude Onesta, the world renowned French National Handball Team coach who spoke about his 25 years of experience during his session titled “From 1992 to 2017: 25 years of technical and physical evolution”.
At the conclusion of the conference, Aspetar presented an award to the French Handball Federation in recognition of their great efforts in organising the event.
Aspetar also held its premier Conference on New Sports Medicine Concepts that was organised in parallel with the 24th Men’s Handball World Championship in 2015 to support academic and clinical exchanges on vital topics within this field.
These experiences help Aspetar further develop its innovative medical practices and research to help leading medical practitioners better understand the main concepts behind handball injuries and develop preventative methods.
Following its outstanding success in providing medical services to athletes during the 24th Men’s Handball World Championship, IHF invited Aspetar to become the first global IHF Reference Centre for Athlete and Referee Health.
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About Aspetar:
Aspetar is a world leading specialised orthopaedic and sports medicine hospital, and the first of its kind in the Middle East. Since 2007, with a world expert team, the hospital has provided top-level comprehensive medical treatment to all athletes in a state-of-the-art facility that sets new standards internationally.
In 2009, Aspetar was accredited as a “FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence” by F-MARC. In 2013, Aspetar was adopted as a reference collaborator centre by the Gulf Countries Council (GCC) Health Ministers Council and “IOC Research Centre for Prevention of Injury and Protection of Athlete Health” in 2014.
In 2015, Aspetar has been recognised as the “IHF Reference Centre for Athlete and Referee Health”. In the same year, the hospital also achieved the obtained on December 15 the Accreditation Canada International (ACI) “Platinum Level”.
Aspetar is a member–organisation of Aspire Zone Foundation, Qatar’s innovative sports and healthy lifestyle destination.