Analysis of Sports Injury in Lower Extremities of High School Taekwondo Athletes

Abstract

Sports injuries frequently occur in athletes during competitive activities and practice routines, and the causes include cumulative fatigue from repetitive training, lack of warm-up exercises, and absence of motivation during competition. We aimed to determine the frequency and characteristics of lower extremity injuries in high school Taekwondo athletes. This study evaluated lower extremity sports injuries in 473 high school Taekwondo athletes. We conducted frequency and cross analyses. The questionnaire tools were developed to identify the characteristics of lower extremity injuries in Taekwondo athletes. Results: For injury by person, thigh injuries and re-injuries were most frequent. In non-contact injury, ankle injuries and re-injuries were most numerous. In the men’s lightweight category, thighs were injured the most in injury by person and ankles suffered the most non-contact injuries. In the men’s heavyweight category, the number of knee injuries was highest in injury by person, and the number of ankle injuries was highest in non-contact injury. In the women’s lightweight category, thighs suffered a higher number of injuries by person, whereas ankles had the highest number of non-contact injuries. In the women’s heavyweight category, thighs had the highest number of injuries by persons, whereas ankles had the highest number of non-contact injuries. The causes of ankle injury in weight classes were different in the two sexes. Conclusion: In this study, we confirmed that the sports damage suffered by student athletes mainly occurs as injuries in training situations without opponents. Our findings could help formulate basic guidelines for preventing sports injury in Taekwondo.