PROFILE OF INJURIES IN PARAGLIDING PILOTS IN BRAZIL AND THEIR RISK FACTORS

ABSTRACT Introduction: Paragliding is a free-flight activity that uses a flexible ultralight glider for takeoff, flight and landing. Despite the increasing number of practitioners of this sport in Brazil, no epidemiological data on paragliding injuries were found in the country. Objective: This study aimed to analyze the incidence, type, anatomical area affected, severity, and to verify if there is any pattern in the lesions in paraglider pilots in Brazil. Methods: A Quantitative, descriptive, analytical, cross-sectional, retrospective study was carried out using an adapted questionnaire from the Accident Notification Form of the German agency LBA - Federal Office of Civil Aeronautics to obtain information relevant to the research objectives. The application of the questionnaire was conducted online, through Google Forms Results: There were 575 valid participations, of which 92.7% were male, and 30.4% were between 41 and 50 years old. Among them, 68.6% reported having already had an injury in this sport. The anatomical region with the highest injury incidence was the lower limbs (44.09%), the landing being the flight phase in which most of the lesions occurred (68.01%). A logistic regression identified that “age” and “type of homologation” were the two factors associated with the occurrence of injury in the studied sample. Conclusion: Based on this research, it is possible to develop a functional training program for the practitioners of this modality, aiming at a better performance, measures of prevention of injuries associated to the sport, as well as to provide adequate rehabilitation to paragliding pilots.