Injuries in national Olympic level judo athletes: an epidemiological study

Abstract

Many body regions are prone to injury in the elite judo population. Women, especially those in the heavyweight classification, were more prone to severe injuries. Lightweights experienced more injuries than heavyweights among male athletes. Specifically, further studies are needed to confirm these findings and to address the impact of rapid weight loss practices on injury risk to implement effective preventive measures.

Epidemiology of injuries in judo: a cross-sectional survey of severe injuries based on time loss and reduction in sporting level

“…In a prospective study of elite Korean judo athletes, Kim et al found a similar pattern, with 32% of injuries to the upper and 39% to the lower extremity 22. Their finding of a higher proportion of injuries to the lower extremity might be due to differing definitions of injuries.…”

“…Other studies have also reported injuries and overuse syndromes of the back. Kim et al reported that 17% of injuries dealt with the thoracic back/upper spine and the lumbar spine/lower back 22. Okada et al reported a prevalence of unspecific low back pain in 35% and radiologically abnormal findings in 82% of a group of Japanese college judo athletes.…”

A systematic review of prospective epidemiological research into injury and illness in Olympic combat sport

“…There was one judo,24 three boxing,25–27 two taekwondo28 29 and two wrestling studies 30 31. There was also one multisport study that encompassed all four sports 32.…”

“…Collectively, the studies reported an assortment of statistical methods, with logistic regression analysis,24 Student’s t-test32 and χ 2  tests24 25 27 29 32 being the most common. Descriptive statistics such as proportions were reported in four studies26 28–30 that also reported injury incidence.…”

“…Incidence of injury could be contrasted across a number of sports; however, some figures were calculated based on training data only and others on competition data. Injury incidence in training was 4.2/1000 hour in judo24 and 12.8/1000 hour in boxing,27 whereas the incidence per 1000 athlete exposures in training and competition was 7.3/1000 athlete exposures (AEs) in wrestling31 and 19.09–69.5/1000 AEs in taekwondo competition 28 29…”