Analysis of injuries in Judo athletes: A systematic review

This article aimed to identify general characteristics, etiology, and location of injuries in Judo athletes.A systematic literature search was carried out up to July 2020 on the databases MEDLINE (via PubMed), LILACS (via BVS), and Science Direct to find studies that focused on the type, location, and causes of injuries in Judo athletes of both sexes and older than 18 years old. The following data were extracted from the studies: author/year, study country, sample size, competition level, injury type, location, and context of the injury.The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed by the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) tool.A total of 725 studies were retrieved from the databases and 12 were selected.The selected studies involved athletes from national and international levels.The situation of training and competition was the most cited context of injury. Considering injury etiology, the location was generalized in most of the studies and the more frequent injury types were: sprains, strains, dislocations, and fractures. In relation to severity, head and neck injuries were described in 66% of the studies. Our results suggest higher awareness related to technical learning strategies to Judo practitioners that is independent of skill level. Since injury etiology is a multifaceted process, increased efforts must be invested to lower or avoid more severe injuries that are more prone to produce negative outcomes like death or disabilities.