IDO MOVEMENT FOR CULTURE

Background. Karate is a very popular and fairly new Olympic martial art. It is of Japanese origin and was established in Okinawa in the second half of the 19th century. Karate requires a high degree of motor control, and functional abilities such as agility, speed, and coordination. Imbalance or low level of motor skills with regard to the kinesiological and physiological structure of movement can lead to muscle injuries. Based on experience from coaching practice, we focused on injuries of the posterior thigh muscles. The aim of the work is to predict the risk of injury to the posterior thigh muscles in karate through the eccentric strength of the posterior thigh muscle diagnosis.
Material and Methods. The tested group consisted of top karate athletes at the national team level in Slovakia. There were 11 women and 14 men in our group. All of them compete in the kata discipline. The average age of the women was 20 and the BMI factor in this group was 22.43 (SD ± 2.21). The average age in the male group was 23, and their BMI was 23.72 (SD ± 1.38). All the monitored competitors are at the top level of technical karate maturity, (Dan) and had been competing at the national or international level for three years or more. We used the diagnostic device NordBord – Hamstring Testing System to test the monitored parameters. NordBord is a special device that is based on the principle of measuring the eccentric and isometric force of a hamstring.
Results. Based on our measurements, we noted a high risk of injury in terms of imbalance between the right and left posterior thigh muscles for three men (21, 42%) in the tested group. High risk in terms of low eccentric muscular strength of the posterior thigh muscles was found in four men’s test results (28, 57%). However, we found an increased risk in only one (9, 09%) of the monitored males in terms of both factors. In the group of women, there was a high risk of injury due to muscle imbalance between the right and left posterior thigh muscles in four (36, 36%) of the monitored women and the same number for high risk of injury due to low eccentric muscular strength of the posterior thigh muscles. Two women (18, 18%) had an increased risk in terms of both risk factors.
Conclusions. Based on our study at a local level, we recommend introducing regular testing of the eccentric strength of the posterior thigh muscles and the implementation of preventive compensation programs aimed at eliminating both risk factors.