Medical Illustration featured in 2021 Tokyo Olympics

medical illustrationsports medicinerock climbingphysical therapy
Written By Tiffany
Athlete Miho Nonako of Japan takes on the lead wall. Credit: Olympics

Athlete Miho Nonako of Japan takes on the lead wall. Credit: Olympics

2021 has been quite a curveball. The pandemic initially delayed the summer Olympics, however in August of 2021, they resumed the program with the momentous introduction of several new sports. Among them were skateboarding, surfing, karate, 3x3 basketball, and rock climbing.

We at Biotic Artlab were very excited to have our medical illustrations on rock climbing specific finger and hand injuries featured in the August 2, 2021 Tokyo Olympics Academic Program on Sports Medicine and Sports Physical Therapy. This symposium acted as a public platform to introduce a) the need for special considerations of how climbing-related bodily stresses operate differently from traditional Olympic sports and b) to inform medical professionals to keep this in mind as the sport grows and establishes itself in the Olympic community.

The program was stacked with a panel of world-class researchers, surgeons, and practitioners of the climbing sports medicine world.

Researcher and orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Christoph Lutter of the Department of Orthopedics from the University of Rostock in Germany, presented first on common injuries, diagnostics, treatment, and rehabilitation of climbing injuries.

Next, Dr. Volker Schöffl of Sportsmedicine Bamberg Germany, a renowned clinic for medicine and science for extreme sports, spoke on the epidemiology of sports injuries in elite climbers.

Then renowned physiotherapist, Carrie Cooper, DPT of Salt Lake City, Utah spoke of physiotherapist for elite climbing athletes and the characteristics and management of injuries in climbing.

Finally, Dr. Tomoyuki Rokkaku of the Japan Mountaineering and Sport Climbing Association and IFSC Medical Doctor for Tokyo 2020 presented on the epiphyseal injury of the middle phalanx in adolescent sport climbers.

We are incredibly grateful here at Biotic Artlab to have been able to contribute our work to give this branch of sports medicine a visual platform.

You can watch the whole presentation here: link

Passcode: 9v$2dJPR (presentation starts around 00:40:00)

Tiffany

Tiffany Fung is a medical illustrator and designer who is one of the 3 creators of Biotic Artlab. Her background lies in design and she has worked for many companies in the U.S. including Nike. She believes strongly in incorporating design thinking into each project. Outside of illustration, Tiffany is a passionate climber and wishes to use medical illustration to bridge the knowledge gap between athlete and self-improvement.

Previous

3 Basic Principles of Color Theory in Medical Illustration
Next

Medical illustrator, Tiffany Fung, is interviewed by Art the Science