The authors conclude that the majority of athletes presented poor sleep quality before the competition. This information should be taken into consideration whenever possible when scheduling rest, training and competition times.

Ependymomas are glial tumors derived from ependymal cells lining the ventricles and the central canal of the spinal cord. It may occur outside the ventricular structures, representing the extraventicular form, or without any relationship of ventricular system, called ectopic ependymona. Less than fifteen cases of ectopic ependymomas were reported and less than five were anaplastic. We report a rare case of pure cortical ectopic anaplastic ependymoma.

In the last few years, the development of national and international games for the physically challenged has encouraged greater participation of athletes with physical disabilities. This resulted in an increase in intensity and frequency of the training routines and competitions and higher levels of trauma-orthopedic lesions. The aim of this descriptive-comparative study is to analyze statistically the incidence of trauma-orthopedic lesions of 82 physically challenged athletes selected in a non intentional and no probalistic way. These athletes belong to various sports categories, as follows: swimming = 37, table tennis = 19, athletics = 19, power lifting = 7. Sixty are males, 24, females, they range in age from 15 to 51 and they all took part in the 2002 World Championship. Applying the medical records of the Brazilian Paraolimpic Committee medical department filled in at those events (the technique of observing the athlete clinical-sports files and medical examinations), the result showed a recurrence of lesions in athletes in the following sports: athletics (MMII = 64.9%, backbone 19.3% and MMSS = 15.8%; power lifting (backbone = 54.5%, MMSS = 36.4% and MMII = 9.1%); swimming (MMSS = 44.4%, backbone = 38.9% and MMII = 16.7%) and table tennis (MMSS = 56%, Backbone = 36% and MMII = 8%). Such results lead to the conclusion that the performing of sports of the physically challenged athletes, and also the intensity of the training routing to try to beat their previous marks and results, cause these kinds of lesion. In addition, it is important to reinforce the preventive measures to the athletes.

Context: Visually impaired athletes sustain overuse injuries in the lower limbs, but the pattern of injuries may vary according to the sport. The characteristics of sports injuries in visually impaired swimmers are unknown.Objective: To determine the characteristics and epidemiologic measures (prevalence, clinical incidence, and incidence rate) of sports injuries in visually impaired elite national swimmers and to assess differences among visual classes and between sexes.Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Patients or Other Participants: Twenty-eight elite, visually impaired swimmers (19 males, 9 females) from the Brazilian Paralympic Team participated in this study. Twelve were visual class S11 (blind swimmers), 12 were S12 (low-vision swimmers), and 4 were S13 (low-vision swimmers).Intervention(s): A standardized report form was used to collect data during 5 competitions. This was endorsed by 2 Brazilian sports governing bodies.Main Outcome Measures: The characteristics, prevalence, clinical incidence, and incidence rate of injuries were calculated.Results: Eighteen athletes reported 41 sports injuries, with a prevalence of 64%, clinical incidence of 1.5 injuries per athlete, and an incidence rate of 0.3 injuries per athlete per competition. Overuse injuries (80%) were more frequent than traumatic injuries (20%). The clinical incidence and prevalence varied according to sex and visual class, but no statistical differences were observed (P . .05). The highest proportion of injuries was in the trunk (46.34%), followed by the upper limbs (34.15%). The shoulders (29.27%) were most affected, followed by the thoracic (21.95%) and lumbar spine (17.07%). Spasm (36.59%) was the most frequent diagnosis, followed by tendinopathy (26.83%).Conclusions: Visually impaired swimmers had a relatively high proportion of overuse injuries, predominantly associated with muscle spasm in the spine and tendinopathy in the shoulders. No differences were apparent in injury prevalence and clinical incidence among visual classes or between sexes.Key Words: epidemiology, disability sport, musculoskeletal injuries Key PointsVisually impaired swimmers experienced a relatively high proportion of overuse injuries during competition. Injuries were predominantly associated with muscle spasm in the spine and tendinopathy in the shoulders. No differences were observed in injury prevalence or clinical incidence among visual classes or between sexes.

Most research on sport injuries in disabled athletes uses a cross-disability (physical and sensorial) design and merges different sport modalities in the same study. This procedure creates difficulties in interpreting the results, since different disabilities and modalities may cause different injury conditions. The purpose of this study was to analyze the sports injuries frequency in visually impaired athletes, to identify the site of the injury, its mechanism, and the main injuries that occur to these athletes as well as to verify if the visual class relates to the sports injury frequency. The subjects were male and female visually impaired athletes, members of the Brazilian team of athletics, soccer 5, goalball, judo, and swimming, who played in international competitions between 2004 and 2008. Data was collected using the Brazilian Paralympic Committee and the Brazilian Confederation of Sports for the Blind medical form, which included the following information: name, age, modality, competition, visual classification (B1, B2, B3), injury type, location of injury, and diagnosis. A total of 131 athletes participated in this study: 42 female, 89 male amongst which 61 were B1, 46 B2, and 24 B3. From this total, 102 athletes reported 288 sports injuries; 2.82 injuries per athlete. Female athletes presented more injuries than male athletes; however, this difference did not show statistical significance. Regarding visual classification, B1 athletes got more injuries than B2 athletes, and these more than B3 athletes; statistically significant difference was found only between B1 and B3 group. As one group, athletes presented similar values between accident and overuse injuries. Concerning body segment, lower limbs showed more injuries, followed by upper limbs, spine, head, and trunk. Twenty-one diagnoses were reported, being tendinopathies, contractures, and contusions the most frequent.