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Vol 71, No 4 (2020)
Review article
Submitted: 2020-09-06
Accepted: 2020-12-03
Published online: 2020-12-30
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Extreme traveler

Krzysztof Korzeniewski12
DOI: 10.5603/IMH.2020.0048
·
Pubmed: 33394494
·
IMH 2020;71(4):281-290.
Affiliations
  1. Department of Epidemiology and Tropical Medicine, Military Institute of Medicine, Warsaw, Poland
  2. Department of Occupational, Metabolic and Internal Diseases, Institute of Maritime and Tropical Medicine, Medical University of Gdańsk, Poland

open access

Vol 71, No 4 (2020)
TRAVEL MEDICINE Review article
Submitted: 2020-09-06
Accepted: 2020-12-03
Published online: 2020-12-30

Abstract

Although they may pose a serious health risk or may even turn out to be life-threatening, extreme sports, i.e. high-risk physical activities of varied difficulty, are growing in popularity among international travelers in recent years. Extreme sports encompass a wide range of activities such as scuba diving, rafting, surfing, bungee jumping and mountaineering. It is not unusual for travelers to engage in extreme sports far off the beaten path, in destinations where environmental conditions are difficult and specialist healthcare is not easily available. Therefore, before taking the decision to engage in any form of adventurous activity, travelers should be encouraged to take certain precautionary measures. The most important are: identification of potential health risk factors related to travel or the activity itself, physical conditioning and fitness training prior to travel (depending on the type of activity) and prophylaxis (a travel health kit, mandatory and recommended vaccinations, a pre-travel consultation to assess a person’s fitness to travel and identify any potential contraindications for certain types of adventure sports, a comprehensive travel insurance policy). The article focuses on popular extreme sports, common risk factors associated with extreme activities as well as the recommended prophylaxis and precautionary measures.

Abstract

Although they may pose a serious health risk or may even turn out to be life-threatening, extreme sports, i.e. high-risk physical activities of varied difficulty, are growing in popularity among international travelers in recent years. Extreme sports encompass a wide range of activities such as scuba diving, rafting, surfing, bungee jumping and mountaineering. It is not unusual for travelers to engage in extreme sports far off the beaten path, in destinations where environmental conditions are difficult and specialist healthcare is not easily available. Therefore, before taking the decision to engage in any form of adventurous activity, travelers should be encouraged to take certain precautionary measures. The most important are: identification of potential health risk factors related to travel or the activity itself, physical conditioning and fitness training prior to travel (depending on the type of activity) and prophylaxis (a travel health kit, mandatory and recommended vaccinations, a pre-travel consultation to assess a person’s fitness to travel and identify any potential contraindications for certain types of adventure sports, a comprehensive travel insurance policy). The article focuses on popular extreme sports, common risk factors associated with extreme activities as well as the recommended prophylaxis and precautionary measures.

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Keywords

travelers; extreme sports; health hazards; prevention

About this article
Title

Extreme traveler

Journal

International Maritime Health

Issue

Vol 71, No 4 (2020)

Article type

Review article

Pages

281-290

Published online

2020-12-30

Page views

1291

Article views/downloads

1023

DOI

10.5603/IMH.2020.0048

Pubmed

33394494

Bibliographic record

IMH 2020;71(4):281-290.

Keywords

travelers
extreme sports
health hazards
prevention

Authors

Krzysztof Korzeniewski

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