| dc.description.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. | en_US |
