Down syndrome and sports

In people with Down syndrome the benefits of sports go beyond improving physical health – participation in sports stimulates the individual’s self-confidence and promotes acceptance by society. Sport has also a negative side – the risk of injuries and accidents. Minor injuries or accidents are accepted as a normal risk of sport by the physically healthy, but attitudes are different when it comes to the risk of sport in people with an intellectual disability. In 1983 the medical advisors of Special Olympics Inc. drew attention to the high prevalence of atlantoaxial instability in persons with Down syndrome and the supposed risk of cervical spine injury for them, and recommended that persons with Down syndrome should not be allowed to participate in certain sports unless they had a doctor’s certificate indicating that they did not have atlantoaxial instability. Parents became worried, not only about accidents related to sports but also about whether it was safe for their child to romp and play. Sports organizations also faced dilemma and had to formulate recommendations. More research was necessary to determine the real risks that people with Down syndrome run when they participate in sporting activities, and it was for this reason that the present study was started. The author concludes that radiological screening is not usefull because of the lack of reliability on individual level in children with a normal atlantoaxial distance, and also because no relation was found between the atlantoaxial distance and the presence or absence of abnormal reflexes.