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Review
Epidemiology of injuries in Olympic-style karate competitions: systematic review and meta-analysis
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  1. Reidar P Lystad1,
  2. Dusana Augustovičová2,
  3. Gail Harris1,
  4. Kirran Beskin1,
  5. Rafael Arriaza3,4
  1. 1 Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  2. 2 Faculty of Physical Education and Sports, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
  3. 3 Instituto Médico Arriaza y Asociados, La Coruña, La Coruña, Spain
  4. 4 Physical Education and Sports School, Universidade da Coruña, A Coruña, Spain
  1. Correspondence to Dr Reidar P Lystad, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; reidar.lystad{at}mq.edu.au

Abstract

Objective To report the epidemiology of injuries in Olympic-style karate competitions.

Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Pooled estimates of injury incidence rates per 1000 athlete-exposures (IIRAE) and per 1000 min of exposure (IIRME) were obtained by fitting random-effects models.

Data sources MEDLINE, Embase, AMED, SPORTDiscus and AusportMed databases were searched from inception to 21 August 2019.

Eligibility criteria Prospective cohort studies published in peer-reviewed journals and reporting injury data (ie, incidence, severity, location, type, mechanism or risk factors) among athletes participating in Olympic-style karate competition.

Results Twenty-eight studies were included. The estimated IIRAE and IIRME were 88.3 (95%CI 66.6 to 117.2) and 39.2 (95%CI 30.6 to 50.2), respectively. The most commonly injured body region was the head and neck (median: 57.9%; range: 33.3% to 96.8%), while contusion (median: 68.3%; range: 54.9% to 95.1%) and laceration (median: 18.6%; range: 0.0% to 29.3%) were the most frequently reported types of injury. Despite inconsistency in classifying injury severity, included studies reported that most injuries were in the least severe category. There was no significant difference in IIRME between male and female karate athletes (rate ratio 1.09; 95%CI 0.88 to 1.36).

Conclusion Karate athletes sustain, on average, 1 injury every 11 exposures (bouts) or approximately 25 min of competition. The large majority of these injuries were minor or mild in severity.

  • sporting injuries
  • martial arts
  • epidemiology
  • injuries

https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2020-101990

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    Footnotes

    • Twitter @RLystad

    • Contributors RPL, GH, KB, DC and RA designed the study and approved the final manuscript. RPL conducted the analysis and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. RPL, DC and RA interpreted the findings and reviewed and edited the manuscript. All authors approved the final manuscript.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests DC is a member of the Technical Commission of the European Karate Union and RA is the Chair of Medical Commission of the World Karate Federation; however, neither DC nor RA receive any remuneration from the European Karate Union or the World Karate Federation to conduct this study, and neither the European Karate Union nor the World Karate Federation have had any influence on this work.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.

    • Ethics approval This systematic review and meta-analysis was exempt from seeking approval from the local institutional review board because it retrieves and synthesises data from publicly accessible documents (ie, published research articles) that do not contain any personal identifying information.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.