The Incidence of injuries in judo and the potential preventive interventions: A Systematic Review

Judo injuries and preventive interventions

Abstract

Purpose: This systematic review aims to determine the incidence of judo-related injuries among judokas and identify
available preventive interventions.
Methodology: A comprehensive literature search was conducted across three electronic databases to identify articles
relevant to the topic: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Science Direct. All the articles that met our inclusion criteria were
included in the systematic review.
Results: The electronic search yielded 740 articles, of which only 15 met the inclusion criteria and were included in the
systematic review. Across the studies, the incidence of judo-related injuries was 15.79 to 71.43 injuries per 1000 athletic
events (AEs). The upper and lower extremities were the most injured body parts. The trunk and the head were the body
parts that were the least injured among the judokas. Regarding injury type, the most common injuries across the studies
were sprains and strains, fractures and contusions.
Conclusions: Our results indicate that the incidence of judo-related injuries is relatively lower than that of other combat
sports, such as mixed martial arts (MMA). However, there are inconsistencies in reporting these injuries across the different
studies. Future studies should, therefore, adopt a standardized method of reporting outcomes to enable the pooling of results.
Lastly, research on the development of injury-preventive interventions in judo remains limited. Consequently, further studies
are needed to evaluate and validate various approaches to injury prevention.