Source: Economic Daily
The Winter Paralympic Games is the highest stage for paralympic athletes to realize their competitive dreams. In order to allow athletes to fully display their talents on the stage, the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games will carry the concept of "athletes as the center" throughout.
One person, one policy "sparring partner"
"People with disabilities need to have a full understanding of the structure of the human body and the laws of movement when they exercise, and bad training habits may be counterproductive and even aggravate the degree of disability." Ji Linhong, director of the Intelligent and Biomechanical Research Office of Tsinghua University and vice president of the Institute of Barrier-free Development, told reporters that how to tap the athletic potential of the disabled in a targeted manner, reduce secondary injuries, and help them better realize their dreams is an important topic.
Ji Linhong and his team undertook the special project of "Key Technologies for Improving the Athletic Performance of Winter Paralympic Athletes" in the "Science and Technology Winter Olympics". In order to find out the situation and needs of disabled athletes, the scientific research team followed the training of the national team and traveled to many places across the country to get along with the athletes day and night, and worked closely together.
"The individual differences of the disabled are quite large, even in the same project, the physiological characteristics, physical fitness, power and posture of different athletes are very different, and it is necessary to tailor the training program of 'one person, one policy', and equipped with personalized training equipment and assistive devices." Ji Linhong told reporters that based on such a research that almost "eats and lives together", researchers have been able to see the difficulties of disabled athletes who are not known to most people.
Amputees who are accustomed to unilateral force usually have asymmetric core muscle strength, which will lead to injuries such as scapula instability in the long run; wheelchair curling projects require athletes to exert precise force, but some paraplegic athletes are insensitive to cold perception, often frostbite and do not know themselves; cross-country skiing, athletes use sitting or kneeling postures, must use ski racks that match their joint angle and width to complete the game, otherwise they are very vulnerable to injury; in snowboarding, the prosthetic limbs worn by athletes also need to adjust parameters according to the ankle and knee joints. To ensure the balance of strength between the stump and the other limb. "Every detail is about the health, safety and performance of the athletes, and it's not sloppy at all." Ji Linhong said.
After repeated test iterations, the scientific research team developed a digital monitoring system to establish a data model by recording the athlete's physiological parameters, training intensity, technical movements and other information, providing guarantee for the athlete's movement optimization, injury prevention and rehabilitation.
The researchers also developed the first ski prosthesis in China that can be used for snowboarding, and developed thermal protective gear for paraplegic athletes who are insensitive to cold perception. In the cross-country skiing project of the Beijing Winter Paralympic Games, the ski rack developed by Ji Linhong's team accompanied Zheng Peng, Mao Zhongwu, Yang Hongqiong, Li Panpan and many other athletes to win medals. "Technology to help the disabled is to focus on the actual difficulties and needs of disabled athletes, to help them maximize their potential and surpass themselves." Ji Linhong said.
The "protector" inside and outside the arena
Snow sports are high-risk sports, many athletes have new injuries and old injuries, and medical protection services during the game are crucial for athletes to compete smoothly. As a paralympic cross-country skiing and biathlon accompanying team doctor, the 58-year-old Hong Yong not only has to undertake the daily diagnosis and treatment tasks of all the team members, but also to do a good job in epidemic prevention and control management and anti-doping work.
Hong Yong told reporters that the medical service difficulties of different sports projects are not the same. With the increase in exercise, the team members' old injuries recurred, and symptoms such as pain and mobility problems gradually appeared. In order to provide high-quality protection for the athletes, the delegation made sufficient preparations, brought microwave therapy instruments, photoelectric therapy instruments, specific electromagnetic wave therapy instruments and other instruments into the closed loop, and also transported 3 medical beds from the training base of Gansu Baiyin.
"My room is a 'well-equipped' clinic." Hong Yong said. As a team doctor who has been in the industry for 30 years, Hong Yong is the closest to the athlete's illness. In the past year, he has followed the team to Baiyin, Ankang and other places to participate in medical security, witnessing how much pain and how much price disabled athletes have to endure in order to compete for even 0.1 seconds of advantage, "It is very difficult for disabled athletes to stand on the field, if there is a pain that cannot be dealt with in time, it may affect the follow-up play."
Like Hong Yong, the ski doctor who is busy on the field also has an important mission. Li Man, a doctor at Beijing Bo'ai Hospital of the China Rehabilitation Research Center, is one of the ski rescue teams. Li Man told reporters that the paralympic alpine skiing project is sliding at a speed of up to 100 kilometers per hour, coupled with the steep slopes, athletes may fall and slide if they make a slight mistake, and it is difficult for injured disabled athletes to slide out of the slopes on their own.
In order to rescue the wounded in time, the ski doctor must put on the snow equipment within 4 minutes after receiving the order from the commander, carry 15 kilograms of rescue equipment to the wounded, assist the wounded to remove the assistive devices, and transfer them to the Yamashita Athletes Medical Station after the injury is fixed. "Because it is more difficult to control the sliding posture of disabled athletes, mistakes such as missing or colliding with flag doors occur from time to time." Li Man said.
Race against the clock "Magic Hand"
In the Winter Paralympic Games, assistive devices are indispensable "silent comrades" for disabled athletes. As an extension of the limbs, prosthetics, wheelchairs and orthoses help the athlete prop up his body and bravely march towards the finish line.
In the Winter Paralympic Games, in order to solve the "worries" of disabled athletes, 3 Paralympic villages and 5 competition venues in Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou have set up technical maintenance service agencies, and nearly 50 technical teams have specially provided maintenance services for sports equipment and life aids such as wheelchairs, prostheses, orthoses used by disabled athletes.
Zhang Luan, a technician at the Ottobock Technical Maintenance Service Center in beijing's Winter Paralympic Village, told reporters that the probability of fierce collisions in ice and snow projects is high, and in order not to delay the training and competition schedule of athletes, technicians need to complete maintenance in the shortest possible time. For this purpose, the workshop has prepared more than 1,000 parts and is equipped with specialized equipment such as grinders, band saws, infrared ovens and welding guns.
"From wheel deformation, broken foot plates, prosthetic correction, to saddle stitching, tire inflation, backrest adjustment, as long as there is a need, we will try to meet it." Zhang Luan said that only by ensuring that the equipment remains in good condition at all times can athletes enter the competition without distraction. (Economic Daily reporter Kang Qiongyan)