Incidence of symptoms and occupational diseases in swimmers - Abstract

Swimming in Brazil is considered a productive sport, practiced in a non-professional way, where there is no job contract. It is supported by material encouragement and sponsorship. Contrary to believed, swimming is not inoffensive. It can cause repetitive movement as well as injuries illness (external otitis, dermatitis, mycoses, etc). Aiming to point the incidence of symptoms, lesions and diseases related to swimming, occurred in the last two years, 33 competitive swimmers from the city of Campinas answered the questionnaires. They had average age of 17 ± 2 years-old (14 to 21 years-old), weighted and were 54,6 ± 6,1 kg and 1,65 ± 0,04 m tall (females), respectively, and 69 ± 7,7 kg and 1,78 ± 0,07 m tall (males, corresponding to 57,6%) and swam weekly 35,8 ± 5,8 km. The main painful complaints were: shoulder (82%), spinal column (52%), ear (36%) and knee (33%). Related to illness, 88% swimmers pointed cases of cold, followed by influenza (61%), sinusitis (27%), mycoses (15%), bronchitis (12%) and conjunctivitis (6%). Other occurrences were: sprains (12,1%) and tendinitis (27,3%).