The Injury Surveillance System (ISS) that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) implemented has been published for three Olympic Winter Games, including the 2010 Vancouver Games. This paper describes the trends in the occurrence of injuries and illnesses in the past three Olympic Winter Games. The epidemiological data of the Winter Olympic Games, which is an all-around competition, can be useful for the future management of the Games and support for the athletes.

Freestyle ski mogul requires a high level of shock absorption in the lower extremities, body control, and core stability due to its competitive characteristics. As mogul skiing is a dynamic and exciting sport, it is associated with sports injuries and traumas such as knee ligament injuries, low back pain, and concussion. This chapter introduced efforts such as year-round physical fitness assessments, conditioning, and motion analysis research for performance enhancement and injury prevention in freestyle mogul skiing.

The environment of alpine skiing is unique with cold exposures and there are no clinical facilities nearby. Thus, transporting injured athletes and clinical facilities should be clarified. Further, conditioning for injury prevention and risk management are important. Therefore, conditioning for injury prevention and risk management are explained and determined in this article with this unique environment.

Speed skating is a time-competitive sport in which skaters race the fastest time on 400 meters long double track. Leg extension power from the low skating position is important for skating at a high speed. On the other hand, the physical burden on the lumbar spine, pelvis, hip, and knee is significantly high. The disruption of the basic movements such as a squat and one leg standing can cause an increased risk of injury and poor physical conditions, leading to reduced performance. Thus, periodic evaluation and correction of the basic movement can help injury prevention and conditioning.

Short foot exercise (SFE) has been reported to enhance foot function and postural control by strengthening intrinsic foot muscles. Improving foot function and postural control is important component when considering preventive exercise for sprained ankles. However, only a few studies have verified its ability to act as a preventive exercise for sprained ankles. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effect of a four-week SFE program on dynamic postural control and perceived foot and ankle stability. Further, it aimed to discuss its usefulness as a preventive exercise. A total of nineteen healthy college male students were recruited in this study. All subjects completed a four-week SFE program. Both dynamic postural control and perceived foot and ankle stability were measured before and after the four-week SFE program. Dynamic postural control was measured by anterior, posteromedial, and posterolateral directions of the Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT), while the perceived foot and ankle stability was measured during the reaching movements of anterior, posteromedial, and posterolateral directions of the SEBT. Our study noted that, after the four-week SFE program, the dynamic postural control of the subjects showed a significant improvement in all three directions. Likewise, the perceived foot and ankle stability of the subjects showed a significant improvement in both posteromedial and posterolateral directions. It is, therefore, speculated that SFE may help prevent sprained ankles. More studies are necessary to further examine the effects of SFE, especially for patients who experienced ankle sprains.

Injury prevention and health promotion among elite athletes are crucial to athletic success. Risk management requires the understanding and adjustment of physical, environmental, and psychological factors. Sleep status can be one of the essential factors for maintaining good health and preventing injury. The Athlete Sleep Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ) is expected to be an international standard for evaluating the sleep status of elite athletes. The 16 items ASSQ assess several sleep-related factors, including sleep difficulty, sleep-disordered breathing such as snoring and apnea, sleep and psychosomatic functioning during expeditions, chronotype, napping, caffeine intake, and electronic device use.

A total of 158 male college soccer players responded the ASSQ-J and the Japanese version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI-J). A factor analysis was conducted to validate the factor structure of the ASSQ-J. The internal consistency of ASSQ-J is assessed for validation. Pearson’s correlation coefficients and kappa statistic were calculated to determine if the ASSQ-J was significantly associated with PSQI-J respectively.

Regarding the ASSQ-J-SDS, 22.4% (35 of 156) of the subjects in this study scored 8 or higher (moderate or higher), which was almost consistent with the results of a previous study on college athletes. It is clear that some Japanese male collegiate soccer players have sleep problems, as same as collegiate athletes around the world. Further research is needed for the validation of the ASSQ-J, the sleep status in a wider range of ages and sports are also investigated.

The aim of this study was to identify the prevalence of non-reporting after sports-related concussion (SRC) injuries and associated factors among Japanese college athletes. SRC non-disclosure, where an athlete did not report suspected SRC to others, was reported in 7.1% (n＝42) of the respondents. Factors associated with SRC non-disclosures were: college athletes who major in sport sciences, older age, contact sport, history of diagnosed SRC by qualified medical staff, and high knowledge of SRC. However, gender and previous SRC education were not associated with SRC non-disclosure. The top two common reasons for SRC non-disclosure were an obsession to continue playing the sport and a lack of understanding about SRC.

We analyzed the activities of the Wakayama Prefecture Athletic Trainer’s Association (WAT Association) for the seven-year period from 2013 to 2019 and discussed future issues. As a result, it was confirmed that the activities of the WAT Association have been maintained without decreasing after the National Sports Festival in Wakayama with the Wakayama Prefectural Athletic Association. However, the number of participants in training sessions showed a sharp decline after the Wakayama National Athletic Meet. 10 years have passed since the establishment of the WAT Association, and future issues such as fostering young players and decreasing the number of participants in training sessions were found.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of prone stretching (SA) and standing stretching (SB) for the anterior sternocostal part in conditioning techniques for the shoulder joint.Finger vertebral distance (FVD) and scapula spinal distance were measured pre and post the stretching task, and the effects were examined. SA and SB showed significant enhancement in FVD pre and post stretching. This result suggest that SA and SB are useful methods for stretching to prevent throwing shoulder.