Abstract - Injury incidence and physical training variables in capoeira players
Background. Capoeira is a genuinely Brazilian martial art and an athletic game that involves an attack-and-defense system. Musculoskeletal injuries and pain can have a great impact on individuals engaged in martial arts and/or combat sports, especially capoeira players.
Problem and aim. Current studies have limited samples and haven’t explored the potential link between injury prevalence and physical training variables. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the prevalence of injuries in capoeira athletes.
Material and methods. A sample of 245 capoeira players from Brazil and abroad, who had been doing Capoeira for 20.5±8.8y, participated in this cross-sectional study. They answered a questionnaire about physical training and injuries.
Results. The results show that most players trained three times a week, for 61-90 minutes, and with moderate-vigorous intensity. Although 73.1% of the sample stated they did other physical activities, 35.9% said they had injuries caused by capoeira, most of them ‘rarely’ (53.1%). The most frequently reported injuries were those affecting the athletes’ ‘knees’ (52.5%), ‘elbows, wrists and/ or hands’ (33.1%), and ‘feet’ (29.0%). No associations were found between injury incidence and frequency (p = 0.554), duration (p = 0.317) and intensity (p = 0.725) of a specific capoeira training program.
Conclusions. The most injured body regions in capoeira players were, in the following order: knees; elbows, wrists and/or hands, and; feet. However, the structuring of the variables of specific capoeira training (frequency, duration, and intensity) programs is not a risk factor associated with injury incidence.