Martial arts injuries: a longitudinal study about judo, karate and wushu carried out in the Community of Madrid, Spain

BACKGROUND: Martial arts are currently being practiced throughout the world by about 100 million people. Considering that sports injuries account for 20% of all emergencies treated in hospitals, this is an issue that should be further studied. Our objective was to determine the prevalence and type of injuries in wushu, judo, and karate practitioners in Community of Madrid, Spain. METHODS: A descriptive epidemiology study was carried out. A questionnaire was used to collect data from 457 men and women practicing karate, judo and/or wushu, including injuries from the past five years, type of injury and occurrence during training or competition. RESULTS: Injuries that disrupted training occurred in 56% of judokas, in 36.7% of karatekas and in 38.9% of wushu practitioners (WP). For judokas, the most common injury site was "shoulder/am/elbow" (13.43%). for karatekas, it was "lower leg/foot/ankle" (9.95%). and for WP it was "groin/hiplhigh" (9.45%) (P=0.000). The most common injuries in judo and karate were "ankle sprains and joint injuries" (4.98% and 3.98%), while for WP the most common injury were "hamstring strains" (5.47%) (P=0.008). There was no relationship between occurrence of a first injury and sex, age or belt rank. CONCLUSIONS: Judo is the martial art with the highest percentage of injuries, followed by wushu and then karate.