Biology of Sport (Mar 2003)
Injury rates in adult elite judoka
Abstract
The aim of the present study was to assess the injuries in British judo athletes (judoka) sustained during competition. Subjects were male (n=70) and female (n=46) elite judoka participating in a national judo tournament in the United Kingdom. Injury data were collected with simple check-off forms that describe the athlete, type, location and mechanism of injury. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to determine the difference in total injury rate between males and females. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to determine the differences in injury rates between body regions. The men recorded a higher injury rate (48.54/1000 athlete-exposures) than the women (34.25/1000 athlete-exposures) (P<0.001). The major injury type was the strain (4.85/1000 athlete-exposures) in the men. The body part most often injured in the women was the elbow (13.70/1000 athlete-exposures). The major injury mechanisms in the men were delivering a throw and impact with surface (14.56/1000 athlete-exposures each). The time-loss injury rate for the men was 4.85/1000 athlete-exposures and 13.70/1000 athlete-exposures for the women. The injury rates in this sample compare favorably to those reported by others for other martial arts.
