Original articles  SPORT INJURIES AND REHABILITATION 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2002 September;42(3):348-53

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Video analysis of blows to the head and face at the 1999 World Taekwondo Championships

Roh J. O., Watkinson E. J.

From the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Back­ground. Lim­ited ­research has ­been ­done on ­head ­blows ­that may ­result in ­mild trau­matic ­brain ­injury in Taek­wondo. The pur­pose of ­this ­study was to inves­ti­gate the ­fighting con­di­tions ­under ­which ­blows to the ­head com­monly ­take ­place, ­with a ­view to deter­mining the typ­ical con­di­tions ­under ­which ­injury may ­occur.
­Methods. Experi­mental ­design: vid­eo­tape anal­ysis (ret­ro­spec­tive). Set­ting: the ­semi-­final and ­final ­matches (a ­total of 48 ­matches) at the 14th ­World Taek­wondo Cham­pion­ships in 1999. Par­tic­i­pants: 64 ath­letes (32 ­females and 32 ­males) who won elim­i­na­tion-­round ­matches (out of 563 com­pet­i­tors), ­aged 15 to 38 ­years. Meas­ures: fre­quency, mech­a­nism of ­head ­blows, char­ac­ter­is­tics of sit­u­a­tions ­leading up to and fol­lowing ­head ­blows, fre­quency of mul­tiple ­impacts.
­Results. A ­total of 35 inci­dents of ­head ­blow ­occurred (365 ­blows per 1,000 ath­lete expo­sures). All of ­these ­head ­blows ­were asso­ciated ­with a ­direct ­head or ­face con­tact and fre­quently ­involved: a ­closed spar­ring ­stance, ­shorter ath­letes, axe or round­house ­type ­kicks, ­attacker’s offen­sive ­kick, and ­head-­blow-­receiver’s offen­sive ­action ­with ­absence of a ­blocking ­skill.
Con­clu­sions. To pre­vent pos­sible ­brain ­injury ­resulting ­from ­direct ­head ­blows, ­updated ­safety edu­ca­tion, a com­plete under­standing of con­cus­sion for ath­letes, ­coaches, and ­referees, and a ­rule ­change in com­pe­ti­tion Taek­wondo are rec­om­mended.