Possible concussions following a head blow in competition Taekwondo

The purpose of this thesis is to study head blows and concussions in competition Taekwondo. To achieve this, I completed four studies.;In Study 1, I measured incidence and described characteristics of injuries sustained during the 1999 World Taekwondo Championships in Edmonton, Canada. The injury rate was 109/1,000 athlete-exposures. The concussion rate was 8/1,000 athlete-exposures.;In Study 2, I analyzed videotapes of the fighting conditions under which head blows commonly take place, to determine the conditions under which injury may occur. Head blows were associated with a direct head/face contact, a closed sparring stance, a shorter athlete, an axe/roundhouse kick, attacker's offensive kick, and a head blow recipient's absence of a blocking skill. The head-blow rate was 365/1,000 athlete-exposures.;In Study 3, I completed a systematic literature review of the incidence of concussion in contact sports. Ice hockey and rugby have the highest incidence of concussion and soccer has the lowest. Male boxers and female Taekwondo competitors have the highest frequency of concussion at the recreational level.;In Study 4, I examined the incidence of head blows and concussions, and examined some factors associated with them in young (11–19 year-old) Korean Taekwondo competitors. I used videotape analysis to examine contextual factors surrounding head blows, with a view of making recommendations to reduce their frequency. The incidence of concussions and head blows was 50 and 226/1,000 athlete-exposures, respectively. A multinomial logistic model shows that head blows and concussions are associated with younger age and lack of blocking skills. Head blows and concussions occur more commonly when competitors adopt a closed or a clinched sparring stance, during an attacker's offensive single kick, when the defender lacks blocking skill, when the defender has a similar or shorter height than the attacker, and during single elimination matches. The most frequent site of impact is the temporal region of the head.;In conclusion, the incidence of head blows and concussions is high in competition Taekwondo. This could be decreased with improved by promoting skill to block kicks to the head.