SYMPTOMS, DIAGNOSIS AND PROGNOSIS

UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN Faculty of Health Sciences

Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Division of Physiotherapy;

F45 Old Main Building, Groote Schuur Hospital Observatory, Cape Town, W Cape, 7925 Tel: +27 (0) 21 406 6401/ 6428/ 6628/ 6534 Fax: +27 (0) 21 406 6323

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Informed Consent Document Dear Participant,

I am a Masters Student in the Division of Physiotherapy at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and will be conducting a research study to determine the impact of training load on injury and illness in a 12-week training period for an iron-distance triathlon. This information will be used to complete my mini-dissertation as partial fulfilment of the MSc Exercise and Sports Physiotherapy program. Ethical approval (HREC Ref: 699/2017) to perform this study has been granted by the Human Research Ethics Committee, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town.

Triathlon is becoming a very popular sport among amateur and professional athletes. Iron distance events, such as IRONMAN™, are also increasing in popularity. The training loads of athletes is high when preparing for such an event, and has been shown to put the athlete at risk for an overuse injury. In triathletes, these occur most commonly in the shoulder, lower back, thigh, knee, and lower leg. Injury prevention measures are developed from research projects, and can assist in ensuring safe participation in sports. This study will look to identify the impact of training load on injury and illness of iron distance athletes; and report on any relationship between injury and specific risk factors for injury.

This study will be supervised by Ms. Kim Buchholtz and Dr. Theresa Burgess from the University of Cape Town (UCT). It is important that you read this information sheet carefully before signing consent to participate in this study.

Research Procedure:

You will need to sign a consent form for inclusion in the study. A demographic information

form will be sent to you prior to the study, where you will need to fill in details regarding your

Championships, a weekly email will be sent to you linking you to an online questionnaire. This will need to be filled in as accurately as possible. If you are not able to respond to the link, a reminder email will be sent to you after five days. The questionnaire was developed to be as accurate, yet as simple and time-efficient as possible. It shouldn’t take longer than 10 minutes to complete. The questionnaires will need to be filled in each week for twelve weeks. The questionnaire will ask you questions relating to any injuries or illnesses you may have obtained in the week during training or participating in an event. If you did not sustain an injury or illness, the questionnaire will still need to be completed. The questionnaire also contains questions relating to your weekly training load; more specifically how long you trained for in each discipline (swimming, running, cycling), and how hard you rated each session to be. The amount of time you spent doing other forms of training such as strength or core work will also be recorded. The final questionnaire will be submitted after your IRONMAN™ event as this data will be included in the study. The questions are all self-explanatory.

Confidentiality

All the information which you provide regarding injuries, illnesses, and training loads will be kept completely private. No personal details will be revealed in the analysis and report of the data, and once the data analysis has been done, all identifying data linking you to the results will be deleted permanently.

Risks to participants

This study imposes no additional risks or costs to participants other than those associated with participation in triathlon as a sport. The study does require a commitment in terms of time to complete the required documents once a week for 12 weeks. The purpose of this study is to record the epidemiology of injuries and illness, and so it is the participants own responsibility to seek treatment for any injuries or illnesses sustained during their training.

Benefits to participants

There is no direct benefit or monetary compensation to individual participants from

participating in this study. At the completion of the study, all participants will be provided

with a detailed report of the results of the study in the form of a debriefing document.

**If at any time you have any ethical concerns or questions about the rights or welfare of patients, you can contact the following personnel for assistance. You are assured that all enquiries will remain confidential.

Prof. Marc Blockman (Human Research Ethics Committee) Telephone: 021 406 6492

Email: [email protected]

Physical Address: Faculty of Health Sciences Human Research Ethics Committee, Old Main Building of Groote Schuur Hospital, Observatory, 7925

**If at any time you have any questions about the study, you can contact any of the individuals listed below. You are assured that all enquiries will remain confidential.

Mr. Darryn Berry (Researcher) Telephone: 0793426995

Email: [email protected]

Physical Address: 30 Orange Street, West Acres, Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, 1201

Ms. Kim Buchholtz (Supervisor) Telephone: 0214606135

Email: [email protected]

Physical Address: Division of Physiotherapy, Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Cape Town, Groote Schuur Hospital, Anzio Road, Observatory, 7925 Dr. Theresa Burgess (Supervisor)

Telephone: 0214066171

Email: [email protected]

Physical Address: Division of Physiotherapy, Department of Health and Rehabilitation

Sciences, University of Cape Town, Groote Schuur Hospital, Anzio Road, Observatory, 7925

Please complete and sign the following information to give consent for participation in this study:

I ____________________________ have had adequate time to read the information provided to me regarding this study. I understand what is required of me and I have had all my questions answered. By signing below, I grant consent to participate in this study and acknowledge that participation is voluntary. Furthermore, I acknowledge that I can withdraw my consent at any stage with no negative consequences.

All information recorded during this study will remain confidential, and no participants will be identified in the event of future publication. Your signature is further confirmation that you are aware of the possible risks involved in triathlon participation, and that the researcher and University of Cape Town cannot be held responsible for injury/death resulting from participating in IRONMAN™.

Signed:

Name:

Date:

Witnessed:

Name:

Date:

Researcher sign:

Name:

Date: