Most Common Injuries to Professional Contestant Karate

Aim: The aim of the study is an attempt to answer the question whether a long-term karate practice exerts influence on the incidence of injuries and what its type and underlying cause. Methods: The research was carried out in July 2013 in Cracow during a karate training camp. 125 people from Poland participated in the study. The participation in research was voluntary and people were informed about its aim and application. The average age was 37,6 ± 11,3 years. The youngest participant was 15 and the oldest 57. Median age was 39 which means that half of participants was not older than 39 and the other half was at least 39. Questionnaire techniques were used in the study. The research tool used to implement the selected technique was survey questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 23 open- and close-ended questions. Results: As results from own research, the greatest number of competitors (38) have suffered from contusion (47,1% of all injury types). This injury types constitutes almost half of all injuries. Among all injury types karate contestants suffered from last year, the most common were contusions (25,6% of all injuries). Conclusions: Karate training is not related to any serious injuries apart from contusions which at the same time are most common injury in this type of training. Contestants’ and training experience are not directly related to injury incidence. An appropriately organized, rational training and using prevention enables to avoid injuries. Circumstances of injury incidence change with contestants’ age and training experience.