See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: http://www.researchgate.net/publication/281750788 Epidemiology of injuries in full-contact combat sports ARTICLE · AUGUST 2015 DOWNLOADS VIEWS 5 8 1 AUTHOR: Reidar P. Lystad Central Queensland University, Sydney 20 PUBLICATIONS 87 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Available from: Reidar P. Lystad Retrieved on: 20 September 2015 Round Table Epidemiology of injuries in full-contact combat sports Reidar P Lystad School of Medical and Applied Sciences, Central Queensland University, Australia Email:
[email protected] Abstract are the most popular or commonly practised. The official program for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games includes three As in any sport, there is an inherent risk of injury to unarmed combat sports, namely boxing, judo, and practitioners of combative martial arts. Notwithstanding the taekwondo. Noteworthy among the non-Olympic combat potential for injury, there has not been a concerted effort to sports is mixed martial arts. Promoters and organisers of clearly elucidate the injury problem in full-contact combat mixed martial arts contests have enjoyed a surging sports. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview popularity and widespread coverage in mainstream media of the injury incidence, injury pattern, and injury severity in since the early 2000s, but the sport has also attracted rebuke six popular and commonly practiced full-contact combat from both politicians and medical associations that wish to sports. Data from a total of 47 observational studies suggest see it banned.1 that there is a significant injury problem in full-contact combat sports generally. However, the injury incidence rates The health benefits of regular physical activity are and injury patterns vary considerably across different styles, undisputed, and the specific health benefits of martial arts which most likely is a reflection of differences in competition practice have been reviewed elsewhere.2-4 However, rules.