Injuries related to Martial Arts (all ages)

July 2008

There were 941 Emergency Department (ED) presentations and 371 hospital admissions related to martial arts injury among person 0-59 years, recorded in the Victorian Emergency Minimum Dataset (VEMD) and the Victorian Admitted Episodes (VAED) over the 5-year period 2002-2006. Frequency: Table 1 shows the annual frequency of ED presentations and hospital admissions by year. The increase in martial arts–related injury over the 5-year period is probably due to better reporting

Table 1: Martial arts-related injury ED presentations and hospital admissions by year

Source: VAED & VEMD, Jan '02 – Dec ‘06

Age: Among ED presentations, injury was most common among persons aged 10-19 (38%) and 20-29 years (26%). Hospital admissions were highest among age groups 10-14 (19%), 15-19 (19%) years and 30-34 (16%) years (Figure 1).

Source: VAED & VEMD, Jan '02 – Dec ‘06
Figure 1: Martial arts-related injury by age groups and level of severity

Gender: Males accounted for 69% of ED presentations and 72% of hospital admissions.

Martial arts: Of the type of martial arts involved, karate was the most common in both ED presentations (55%) and hospital admissions (39%), followed by tae kwon do (12% ED presentations and 19% hospitalisations) and judo (6% ED presentations and 8% hospitalisations). The form of martial arts was not specified in 19% of ED presentations and 17% of hospitalisations.

Cause: Almost 50% of injuries presenting to hospital occurred when the injured person was struck by an opponent, followed by falls (19%) and struck with an object (14%). Martial arts–related injury admissions were mainly cause by hit/struck/crush (40%), falls (20%), and overexertion (14%).

Nature of injury: Among ED presentations, the most common injuries sustained were sprain/strain (35%), fracture (26%) and superficial wounds (8%). Among hospital admissions, fracture was the most frequent injury (47%), followed by dislocation, sprain and strain (21%) and superficial injury (4%).

Body region: Among ED presentations, the lower extremity sustained 40% of all injuries with feet (20%) being particularly affected. Of upper extremity injuries, the hand including fingers (16% of all injuries) and the wrist (7%) were the common body sites injured (Figure 2). Among hospital admissions, the lower extremity (38%) and the upper extremity (34%) were also the body regions most frequently injured, predominantly the knee and lower leg (28% of all injuries), and the wrist and hand (15%) (Figure 3).

Source: VAED, Jan '02 – Dec ‘06 Figure 2: Martial arts–related injury ED presentations by body region injured (n=941)

Source: VEMD, Jan '02 – Dec ‘06 Figure 3: Martial arts–related injury hospital admissions by body region injured (n=371)

Location: Among ED presentations and hospital admissions, the location where the injury occurred was most often recorded as an athletics or sports area, accounting for 62% and 47% of cases respectively. ED presentations also occurred at a place for recreation (24%) and the home (5%). The location of injury was unspecified in 49% of hospital admissions.

Length of stay: Among the 371 admissions, 76% stayed in hospital for less than 2 days, 22% for 2-7 days and 7% for 8-30 days.

Further information: For further information regarding martial arts – related injury, see Hazard edition 11, http://www.monash.edu.au/muarc/VISU/hazard/haz11.pdf
Better Health Victoria :
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Martial_arts_preventing_injury?OpenDocument