TOURNAMENT MEDICAL REPORT - Marseilles, France:

Dr. Rafael Arriaza Loureda
Chairman Medical Committe
World Karate Federation

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As it is usual in every World level Tournament since 1990, a registry of the injuries that took place during the III World Junior and Cadet Karate Championship, in Marseille, were recorded, and this report represents the results and the analysis of the figures obtained.

Four medical tables dealt with the medical assistance to the competitors from the different tournament tatamis. In addition to caring for injured athletes, the medical team was responsible for recording the injuries that took place during the competition.

As usual, there are some limitations in the registered data. Even though, all injuries could be attributed either to male or female categories, and it has been possible to use the data to analyze separatedly the injury rate in the different categories: male and female, and team or individuals in different weights.

A precise match count was done, in order to obtain the correct denominator to analyze the injury rate, but we must stress that, in some cases, it is impossible to know the real extent or severity of some injuries (as it may only be appreciated after sophisticated examination tests once the athlete is back home) and so the figures represent the minimum number and severity of the injuries, though the real figure could be higher.

INJURY SEVERITY: The injury severity classification developed by Dr. Tim Buckley in 1990 was used, as it is useful to compare the data with the ones obtained in other sports, although in this case, it was adjusted to the age of the competitors, and some injuries that would be considered as “moderate” in adults (such as a fractured nose or a grade 2 concussion) are considered here as “severe”.

INJURY DESCRIPTION :

DISCUSSION:

The rate of “minor” injuries represent 93.6% of the total number of injuries, a figure similar to the one obtained from other World level championships, which indicates the stability obtained in Karate competition regarding the injury proportion, with the ruling and competition system used in those tournaments. The injury rate per fight has been similar to the one found in the II World Junior and Cadet Championship, in Athens, and lower than the one found in Sofia: 0.125 injuries per fight versus 0.13 in Athens and 0.22 in Sofia, representing a steady situation regarding the decrease in the total number of injuries. It represents an important decrease in the total number or injuries. So, although the moderate and severe injuries represent 6.4% of the total number of injuries, the chances that a competitor underwent one of those injuries was much lower: there was one moderate injury in every 66 female category fights, or in every 187 male junior fights, and none in cadets; the chances of a severe injury were one in every 280 junior male fights, with none in the rest of the categories. If we add the moderate and severe injuries in the team categories, the chances are one such injury in every 66 fights. If we consider globally the male and female junior categories, the rate of moderate and severe injuries per fight is 0.008 (or a risk of undergoing one such injury in every 127 fights, as opposed to a risk of one in every 84 fights in the Athens Championship and one in every 40 fights in the senior World Championships in Madrid)

The fact that there is a chance of injury in every eight fights means that the reduction in the number of medical interventions in the competition area is maintained, improving both the competition timing and the image of the competition to the general public, the competitors' families (we must bear in mind their young age) and the media.

Head and face injuries still represent the highest percentage of injuries (68% of the total figure). From our point of view, it means that, globally, the same problems in safety in Karate competition already reported are present here in spite of the increased security measures enforced by the specific ruling in Cadet and Junior competition. Again, a high number of injuries included some kind of external bleeding , with the evident esthetical problem (specially concerning spectators, mass media, etc) and sanitary problem ( due to the risk of blood borne pathogens transmission): a total figure of 48 injuries could be grouped under this heading, representing 38.4% of the total figure, a percentage lower than the one obtained in the Athens Championship and similar to the one of seniors championships in Madrid (although the total number of injuries is lower).

In spite of the tendency detected in the Athens Championship, it has not been possible to obtain the percentage of injuries caused by punch or kick techniques, due to the inconsistency of the data recorded at some of the tatamis, which makes it impossible to analyze the figures.

In summary, I think that a great deal of the problems detected during the I World Cadet and Junior Championship in Sofia have been solved, and that the safety of the competition, specially the in the Cadet category, has been markedly increased, maintaining the global results found at the II World Cadet and Junior Championships at Athens. I do sincerely think that a great deal of the reduction in the number of injuries is due to the referee's watchful enforcement of the competition rules. All we can hope is to progress further in this way, and so we will be keeping the reports on the injuries during the next juniors and cadets championships.