RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Injury incidence, severity and profile in Olympic combat sports: a comparative analysis of 7712 athlete exposures from three consecutive Olympic Games
JF British Journal of Sports Medicine
JO Br J Sports Med
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine
SP bjsports-2020-102958
DO 10.1136/bjsports-2020-102958
A1 Reidar P Lystad
A1 Alexander Alevras
A1 Iris Rudy
A1 Torbjørn Soligard
A1 Lars Engebretsen
YR 2020
UL http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2020/11/19/bjsports-2020-102958.abstract
AB Objectives To describe and compare the epidemiology of competition injuries in unarmed combat sports (ie, boxing, judo, taekwondo and wrestling) in three consecutive Olympic Games.Methods Prospective cohort study using injury data from the IOC injury surveillance system and exposure data from official tournament records at three consecutive Olympic Games (ie, Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016). Competition injury incidence rates per 1000 min of exposure (IIRME) were calculated with 95% CIs using standard formulae for Poisson rates.Results The overall IIRME was 7.8 (95% CI 7.0 to 8.7). The IIRME in judo (9.6 (95% CI 7.8 to 11.7)), boxing (9.2 (95% CI 7.6 to 10.9)) and taekwondo (7.7 (95% CI 5.6 to 10.5)) were significantly higher than in wrestling (4.8 (95% CI 3.6 to 6.2)). The proportion of injuries resulting in >7 days absence from competition or training was higher in wrestling (39.6%), judo (35.9%) and taekwondo (32.5%) than in boxing (21.0%). There was no difference in injury risk by sex, weight category or tournament round, but athletes that lost had significantly higher IIRME compared with their winning opponents (rate ratio 3.59 (95% CI 2.68 to 4.79)).Conclusion Olympic combat sport athletes sustained, on average, one injury every 2.1 hours of competition. The risk of injury was significantly higher in boxing, judo and taekwondo than in wrestling. About 30% of injuries sustained during competition resulted in >7 days absence from competition or training. There is a need for identifying modifiable risk factors for injury in Olympic combat sports, which in turn can be targeted by injury prevention initiatives to reduce the burden of injury among combat sport athletes.