| dc.description.abstract | Background
Kickboxing is a sport that is growing fast both nationally and world wide. The norwegian elite fighters are achieving high results in international championship and thus it is important for norwegian doctors to know about injury epidemiology. The goal of this study is to analyze injury epidemiology in Norwegian elite fullcontact kickboxers.
Material and methods
39 of the best present and former fullcontact kickboxers in Norway were asked to fill out a questionnaire. The questionnaire focused on mapping out the most serious injuries for each athlete.
Results
There are 160 injuries reported, 52 female injuries and 108 male injuries. Most male injuries are located to the face and head region (35,2%), while injuries on the extremities dominate for the females, with 30,8% on both the upper and the lower extremities. The most common diagnosis is fracture (21,9%), though the most common female injurie is distortion. Inflammation/tendinosis count for 18,8% of the injuries and 17 athletes have reported concussion after either training or match, though most of them only once in their career.
Most of the injuries that are reported, happen to the athlete that throws the punch or the kick, rather than to the one recieving the technique. There is a difference between the genders regarding the severeness of the injuries. Where the women usually get a distortion of the foot or the hand, the men may get a fracture as a result of the same injurie mechanism.
Conclusions
30,6% of the injuries occur in the face and head region, 30% to the upper extremities and 23,8% to the lower extremities. The locations of the injuries is spread out on the body, rather than just one place beeing the most frequent. There are 17 athletes that reported a concussion, but there are suggested further prospective studies on this group of athletes. | eng |