Injuries, Healthcare, and Climbers--Research Study

Hi everyone,

I'm a fellow climber reaching out to the climbing community for help with a study I'm conducting as part of my graduate education at Northern Arizona University. I am a student in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program here.

We are using a short (5-6 minutes), anonymous questionnaire to investigate climbers' experience with injuries and healthcare.  Specifically, we are curious about climbers' interest in, perception of, and access to healthcare for climbing-related injuries.  Realizing that most climbers experience climbing-related injuries at some point in their career, we want to gather some information so that we can better communicate with and better serve climbers.  I would love to hear from those who have experienced climbing injuries AS WELL AS THOSE WHO HAVE NOT!

Our heart behind this work really comes down to meeting the climbing community's needs.  Your input is vital and would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance for your time and help! You are driving change in the quality of healthcare services that climbers receive.  If you feel so inclined, please share the link with fellow climbers! The more responses, the better it will work.  To take the survey, follow the link below!

I also posted in the 'general' forum to catch those people lucky enough to have never experienced climbing injuries.

http://nau.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eEW3PQazwr9yweN

Climb on!
Austin

Well, if you want to include non-USA locations, I have been mashed and helicoptered in the UK and the rest of Europe several times. Each time I went to a hospital, was re-built, given great care (except once in France - not sure what went wrong there) and never charged.

It seems the questions in this survey are geared toward overuse injuries rather than those that happen due to accidents. If this is the case, it might help to clarify - and if not, it might help to reword some questions or add new ones to capture information about traumatic injuries rather than just overuse injuries.

Best of luck in your research!

David Coley wrote: Well, if you want to include non-USA locations, I have been mashed and helicoptered in the UK and the rest of Europe several times. Each time I went to a hospital, was re-built, given great care (except once in France - not sure what went wrong there) and never charged.

Yes, every other civilized country has free health care....best not to gloat.  Buddy had a tib/fib fracture from ice climbing in Ontario, they put a cast on him and he never got a bill.

David Coley wrote: Well, if you want to include non-USA locations, I have been mashed and helicoptered in the UK and the rest of Europe several times. Each time I went to a hospital, was re-built, given great care (except once in France - not sure what went wrong there) and never charged.

Thanks for sharing your experience, David.  Because I want to get a representative sample of the climbing population, emergent situations and traumas like that are as important as every other kind of climbing injury.

Em Cos wrote: It seems the questions in this survey are geared toward overuse injuries rather than those that happen due to accidents. If this is the case, it might help to clarify - and if not, it might help to reword some questions or add new ones to capture information about traumatic injuries rather than just overuse injuries.

Best of luck in your research!

Em,

Thanks for the feedback.  One of my peers conducted a study focusing on overuse upper extremity injuries, and beliefs/practices surrounding those.
I wanted to explore climbers' experience surrounding healthcare, and was hoping to get information on all sorts of injuries! My hope is to not bias respondents in answering the questions and to provide wiggle room with the 'other, please specify' option.
I wanted to keep the questionnaire brief for respondents' sake but the acute vs. chronic language and distinction is something we will consider in future work!

Buck Rio wrote:

Yes, every other civilized country has free health care....best not to gloat.  Buddy had a tib/fib fracture from ice climbing in Ontario, they put a cast on him and he never got a bill.

You make a good point, Buck! The lack of access to care is one of the reasons we are conducting the study. 

Thankfully these are concerns that we are discussing in our program and our profession is aiming to address though advocacy and practice. We have a long way to go but today is always a good day to start...

Austin Kaiser wrote:

Em,

Thanks for the feedback.  One of my peers conducted a study focusing on overuse upper extremity injuries, and beliefs/practices surrounding those.
I wanted to explore climbers' experience surrounding healthcare, and was hoping to get information on all sorts of injuries! My hope is to not bias respondents in answering the questions and to provide wiggle room with the 'other, please specify' option.
I wanted to keep the questionnaire brief for respondents' sake but the acute vs. chronic language and distinction is something we will consider in future work!

I see what you're trying to do, but it weakens the value of your data not to be precise (as trying to combine distinct goals often does in research). There are several questions I would have answered differently if 1) I had the experience of an acute, traumatic injury (which you wouldn't know because it wasn't asked) or 2) if the questions hadn't seemed to be naturally lending themselves towards a discussion of overuse injuries. 

Honestly, as an professor, I tend to participate in surveys just so you get people.  

I got to 'what is your climbing level', saw that you labeled me a rank beginner, issued some angry blue words, and closed the window.

You might be putting off a few people in that manner.

 

Katherine Knight wrote:

I see what you're trying to do, but it weakens the value of your data not to be precise (as trying to combine distinct goals often does in research). There are several questions I would have answered differently if 1) I had the experience of an acute, traumatic injury (which you wouldn't know because it wasn't asked) or 2) if the questions hadn't seemed to be naturally lending themselves towards a discussion of overuse injuries. 

Katherine,

Thank YOU for the feedback! This is my first research project in my doctoral education (or ever) and my mentor is a biomechanist so he works more with quantitative research.  While my primary focus is clinical practice, research is also extremely important to the public and my profession. This study is laying the groundwork for what I hope to be a new area of investigation and learning for myself and others.  I appreciate any constructive feedback.

When we share/publish results, we'll be certain to consider the flaws in our design and question development.

Austin Kaiser wrote:

Katherine,

Thank YOU for the feedback! This is my first research project in my doctoral education (or ever) and my mentor is a biomechanist so he works more with quantitative research.  While my primary focus is clinical practice, research is also extremely important to the public and my profession. This study is laying the groundwork for what I hope to be a new area of investigation and learning for myself and others.  I appreciate any constructive feedback.

When we share/publish results, we'll be certain to consider the flaws in our design and question development.

My favorite part of research is doing whatever you do and then just getting to explain why you did it.... later ;)

I completed the survey and learned that in two years, with a lot hard work and training, I will still be a Beginner.