Purpose To present an epidemiological study of injuries found among South Korea's National level Judo athletes as a foundation for future injury prevention and skill enhancement in this group. Methods This study is a prospective study on a 4-year injury assessment held from January 2010 to December 2013 at the training centre in South Korea for National Level athletes. Athlete's weight class, gender, injury location and injury grade (grade I=1–3 treatment days, grade II=4–7 treatment days, and grade III ≥8 treatment days) were analysed. Results There were a total of 782 injuries recorded during this period, equalling to four injuries per athlete annually. Almost half of these injuries (47%) were grade I injuries. Injury occurrence was the highest in the Lower body (44.2%). This was then followed by injuries in the upper body (29.8%), trunk (20.3%) and head and neck (5.6%). Men and women showed similar, non-significantly different trends in the proportion of body parts injured. Women experienced more grade III injuries than males (p=0.0228). Comparison between women in different weight classes also showed that heavyweights incurred more grade III injuries than lightweights (p=0.0087). Lightweights had a higher rate of injury than heavyweights in males and females, although this was statistically significant only among males (p<0.001). Conclusions Many body regions are prone to injury in the elite judo population. Women, especially those in the heavyweight classification, were more prone to severe injuries. Lightweights experienced more injuries than heavyweights among male athletes. Specifically, further studies are needed to confirm these findings and to address the impact of rapid weight loss practices on injury risk to implement effective preventive measures.

Objectives To report injury patterns associated with the training activities of elite male and female South Korean wrestling athletes preparing for the Olympic Games. Methods From 2008 to 2017, we prospectively collected data on elite wrestling athletes at the Korea National Training Center. Athletes were assessed by two sports medicine doctors, and data were stratified according to sex, wrestling style, weight class, injury location and injury severity. Χ²tests were used to compare groups. Injury risk was expressed in relative ratios with 95% confidence intervals (RR, 95% CI). Results There were 238 male and 75 female elite wrestlers. Training time totalled 382 800 hours. We recorded 1779 injuries in 313 athletes aged >18 years (annual average, 4.04 injuries/athlete); 59% of these were mild injuries. When all athletes were considered, most injuries occurred in the lower extremities (37.5%), followed by the upper extremities (27.4%), trunk (25.4%) and the head and neck area (9.7%). Weight class significantly influenced injury severity for both wrestling styles among male athletes (Greco-Roman, P=0.031; freestyle, P=0.028), as well as among female freestyle wrestling athletes (P=0.013). The relative ratio of injury incidence for the lightweight class compared with the heavyweight class was high for Greco-Roman style compared with freestyle (RR 1.13, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.27; P=0.011). Conclusions Among male and female South Korean elite wrestling athletes training for the Olympic Games, most injuries were mild and occurred in the lower extremities. Weight class influenced injury severity in both wrestling styles, and lightweight athletes had higher injury rates.

Objectives We aimed to determine the injury patterns associated with training activities in elite South Korean taekwondo athletes training for the Olympic Games. Methods We collected data prospectively from 2007 to 2016 at the Korea National Training Center in Seoul, South Korea. A sports injury was defined as acute or chronic musculoskeletal signs and symptoms due to taekwondo activities during training sessions. Athletes were assessed by an on-site sports medicine specialist. The elite taekwondo athletes were stratified according to sex, weight class (flyweight, featherweight, welterweight and heavyweight), injury location (body region and site) and injury severity (mild or level I, requiring treatment for 1–3 days; moderate or level II, requiring treatment for 4–7 days; or severe or level III, requiring treatment for ≥8 days). Results Athlete exposure was 56 160 training sessions that took 249 600 hours. 1466 injuries were recorded in 283 athletes, with an average of 4.6 injuries per athlete annually. Of these, more than half (56%) were mild injuries, with most injuries occurring in the lower extremities (65.5%), followed by injuries to the trunk (16%), upper extremities (14%) and head and neck area (4%). Among these athletes, women had higher injury rates in the featherweight and welterweight categories (P≤0.0001), but there were no sex differences in other weight categories. In general, female athletes and male athletes experienced a comparable risk of injury (relative ratio: 1.55; 95% CI 0.89 to 2.68). Conclusion In elite South Korean taekwondo athletes, most injuries occur in the lower extremities and were graded as minor. Injury severity depended on weight class.

Purpose We aimed to assess the risk of injury associated with training activities in a population of elite Korean fencers training for the Olympic games. Methods We analysed the incidence of sports injuries, based on data prospectively collected over an 8-year period (January 2008 to December 2015) at the National Training Center in Seoul, Korea. The population of elite fencing athletes was stratified according to fencing category (sabre, epee and foil), sex, injury location (body region and site) and injury severity (mild or level I injury, requiring treatment for 1–3 days; moderate or level II injury, requiring treatment for 4–7 days; and severe or level III injury, requiring treatment for ≥8 days). Results A total of 1176 injuries were recorded during the study period, with an average of 3.3 injuries per athlete annually. Of these, over half (52.6%) were mild injuries, with most injuries occurring in the lower extremity (47.2%), followed by injuries to the upper extremity (26.4%), trunk (21.4%), and head and neck area (5.0%). For all weapon categories, there was a significant difference between male and female athletes in terms of injury location and severity (p≤0.005). Conclusions We hope that our data describing injury location and severity according to weapon category and sex can help one understand the circumstances that lead to injuries in elite Korean fencers and can be used in the development of programmes to reduce the incidence of sports injuries and enhance athletic performance.

The purpose of this study was to reveal the relationship between rapid weight loss and injury patterns during the training of elite wrestlers, expected to represent South Korea. Since 2019, data fo...