In its 5th edition, the conference brought together a host of experts from a range of elite sports and disciplines to present and share industry learnings on a range of topics including ACL injuries, mental health in sport as well as sessions on concussion management and respiratory health in athletes.
Organised by WRU National Medical Manager, Prav Mathema and WRU National Team Doctor, Geoff Davies, the conference has grown year on year since its inception, and welcomed its largest number of delegates in 2018.
“The conference is all about getting together as many elite sports practitioners and people embarking on their journey in sports medicine and brining them together for a day of learning,” said Mathema.
“It is important to stay at the cutting edge and we always try and attract the highest caliber of speakers and we have done that again in 2018 with speakers from across sporting spectrum including elite football, rugby, tennis, swimming and Olympic disciplines.
“It is been our strategy on medical education in Wales to deliver it for free and we are delighted to keep doing this. The event ‘sold-out-‘ in less than 24 hours, which shows the interest and demand created.
“We have some very generous sponsors who allow us to run events like this free and we must thank them as well as the WRU for all of their support.”
In a elite sporting environment where competition is key, medical departments strive to work collaboratively for the good of the industry and athletes according to Mathema; “It is very easy in sport to become insular and to focus on what you are doing and to keep things in house, but player welfare is the priority and it is vital to share knowledge and information across the industry to allow us all to continue pushing forward and to allow our athletes to prepare the best they can.”
Speakers included leading sports consultants, physiotherapists, radiologists, surgeons and performance science specialists.
The programme included a session on ‘Mental health in sport’, which saw presentations from Andres Pretorius, CEO of Welsh Rugby Players Association and Dr Guy Evans, Chief Medical Officer at British Swimming and it was an invaluable delivery according to Davies.
“One of the key seminars today was on the subject of mental health and that rightly is a huge talking point in society and sport at the moment,” he said.
“We had an excellent session discussing how we can take steps to recognize mental health problems early in athletes and ensure appropriate treatment is arrange in a timely fashion.
“Around 25% of people in the UK experience a mental health problem each year and similar rates would also be expected in elite athletes.
“The conference as a whole aims to spread the message of sports medicine and its achieved that once again this year. From the community end of sport, through the elite end as well as people training in various disciplines, it has been great to welcome them all to Principality Stadium and to be part of the conference.”
We would like to thank the following organisations for their support and sponsorship on the event, Physique Management, Hospital Innovations, Nuffield Health, Vald Performance and Sempris.
