Abstract - Incidence of injuries in martial arts with taekwon-do as an example
Some of the contemporary sport disciplines like martial arts show higher risk of being injured. The main argument explaining this phenomenon may be the essence of sports rivalry. Sports efforts are characterized by high intensity, long duration and greater involvement of psyche. The specificity of injuries in sports results from etiology, pathogenesis, treatment and prognosis on the treatment. Incidence of injuries may be caused either by direct factors such as kicking techniques, punches or throws or indirect factors for instance e.g. personal traits. We can distinguish two types of people who are prone to an injury; those who are excessively aggressive and those who are too much timorous, unstable emotionally. Incidence of injuries in taekwon-do is average; most common are bruises or abrasions, especially of lower limbs. Usually it is a competitor's fault or inappropriate acting of other trainees. The most severe types of injuries happen during breaking techniques (kyok pa in taekwon-do or tameshiwari in kyokushin karate) and the most frequent are during sparrings.