An Epidemiological Study of Injuries in Female Taekwondo Athletes in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Taekwondo is the self-defence characterized especially by the extensive use of kicks. The objective of this study was to identify the injury profile of female Taekwondo athletes who participated in the Sri Lanka National Sports Festival 2017. Seventy-one female athletes representing all nine provinces of Sri Lanka participated in the tournament. All of them were observed prospectively and their injury related data were recorded using an interviewer administered questionnaire with the help of the official physician of the tournament. The software programme‘SPSS 16.0’ was used to analyse the gathered data. Out of 71 athletes 22 (31%) athletes got injured and 25 (35.2%) injuries were documented among themselves. The rate of injury was 198.4 per 1000 Athlete-Exposure (A-Es).The most prevalent injury type was contusions (80%) followed by bleeding (12%). The lower limbs (36%) were determined as the most prevalent anatomical region of the body to sustain an injury during a competition followed by the head and neck region (24%). Regarding the severity of injuries, most of the injuries were mild (72%) whereas there was no critical injury reported during the match. Most of the injuries were reported at the 2nd and 3rd rounds of the matches. Interestingly, Red belters (40%) and Black belters (28%) had more injuries during the championship. The Fin and Light weight class players sustained more injuries when compared to other weight categories. All the injured athletes were right dominant (96%) except one athlete. In conclusion, the rate of injuries in Sri Lankan Taekwondo female athletes is very much higher than the rates reported in the world. Senior players are more prone to injuries in Sri Lankan context. However, the other findings (Nature of injury type, injured anatomical region and injury severity) of Sri Lanka female Taekwondo athletes run parallel with the data from the rest of the world.