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.