For the last week, more than 500 competitors from around the world have been in Toronto for the 2017 Invictus Games, a competition open to injured, sick and wounded military members and veterans.
The role of adaptive sport in the care and support of ill and injured military personnel at the games is currently being studied by Dr. Celina Shirazipour, a Post-Doctoral fellow at Dalhousie University. She presented her preliminary findings this week.
“Even just the element of training itself through sport can be really positive and impactful in changing things around for those who may have been in the best place following illness and injury,” said Shirazipour.
READ: Invictus Games helped Canadian war veteran Kelly Scanlan overcome depression and PTSD
The study looked at 40 competitors from seven different nations. The 28 men and 12 women interviewed included both former and current Invictus Games participants.
Shirazipour found there were many benefits to participating in the games; in addition to improved physical health, there were also psychological and social benefits.
“We had one competitor who said…this stopped me from committing suicide,” said Shirazipour.
“So that’s obviously at the most extreme, most positive level. But even just a basic, ‘I’m having more conversations with others,’ provides this confidence that they can then take in new domains in life.”
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Luc Martin knows first-hand the importance of the Invictus Games.
The New Brunswick athlete, who lives with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), says competitive archery helped him set new goals.
“Psychologically, it’s been a tremendous help for me to be able to get out of my comfort zone, setting new goals and strive to become the best athlete I can,” said Martin.
“I was able to get out of the house, start mingling with a lot of different people. After the Invictus Games, I started competing on an international level, so it kind of, gets your feet wet into a competitive atmosphere.”
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Shirazipour found the games also allow injured and ill veterans to reconnect with their military families.
“For some individuals, they may not have left the military on their own terms. They may have planned on serving for another 20, 30 years and their illness or injury kind of automatically within the blink of an eye took them out of that military family,” she said.
“This is giving them the chance to wear that flag on their shoulder again, represent their country again.”
“We’re able to kind of reconnect and know that we’re not alone in this battle of our injuries. Knowing that coming back from war, knowing that there’s more to life than the army and by using sports kind of helps us to rehabilitate each other,” said Martin.
READ MORE: Invictus athlete Sergeant Lorne Ford motivated by memory of soldiers who died in Afghanistan
The next phase of Shirazipour’s research will look at trying to understand the long-term impact of sports.
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