Sports Injuries and Illnesses After Implementation of the Web-Based Surveillance System in World Taekwondo

Abstract

Context Taekwondo epidemiology studies have been in short supply since the rule changes introduced by World Taekwondo in 2017. Objective To describe injury and illness patterns at the 2017 World Taekwondo Championships (WTC) in Muju, South Korea, after the implementation of the web-based surveillance system by World Taekwondo. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting All injuries and illnesses were recorded during the 2017 WTC using a web-based system developed by the International Olympic Committee. Patients or Other Participants A total of 971 athletes who participated in the 2017 WTC. Main Outcome Measure(s) Profiles and mechanisms of injury and illness in the 2017 WTC. Results We analyzed a total of 131 injuries and 26 illnesses, corresponding to an overall clinical incidence of 13.5 (95% CI = 11.2, 15.8) injuries and 2.7 (95% CI = 1.6 3.7) illnesses per 100 athletes and an overall incidence rate of 19.3 (95% CI = 16.0, 22.6) injuries and 3.8 (95% CI = 2.4, 5.3) illnesses per 1000 athlete-days. Most injuries occurred in the lower extremities (n = 61, 46.6%), and knee injuries were most frequent (n = 26, 19.8%). Among head and trunk injuries (n = 39, 29.8%), face injuries (n = 32, 24.4%) were most common, whereas among upper extremity injuries (n = 31, 23.7%), finger injuries (n = 8, 6.1%) were seen most often. Contusions (n = 44, 33.6%) were the most frequent injury type, followed by fractures and ligamentous ruptures or sprains. The most common injury mechanism was contact with another athlete (n = 97, 74.0%), whereas the least common was concussion (n = 5). The major affected system was the respiratory system (n = 11, 42.3%), with major symptoms being pain (n = 11, 42.3%) and fever (n = 7, 26.9%). Environmental factors were the most typical cause of illness (n = 15, 57.7%). Conclusions The web-based surveillance system used at the 2017 WTC revealed that 13.5 per 100 athletes (77.8/1000 athlete-exposures, 13.9/1000 minute-exposures) had new or recurrent injuries, whereas 2.7 per 100 athletes became ill.