Differences in Sports Injury Types According to Taekwondo Athlete Types (Sparring, Poomsae, and Demonstration)

The objective of this study was to investigate the range of injuries according to the competition format type of Taekwondo (sparring, poomsae, and demonstration) and compare the level of injuries to provide basic data for preventing injuries among Taekwondo athletes. Data were collected through a survey of 472 Taekwondo athletes using convenience sampling and self-administration methods. The most frequently injured body part was the ankle for sparring (54.03%) and demonstration (55.09%) athletes and the pelvis for poomsae (36.36%) athletes (x 2 = 111.556, p < 0.001). The most frequent injury type was sprain for poomsae (36.40%) and demonstration (52.30%) athletes and fracture for sparring (49.40%) athletes (x 2 = 127.752, p < 0.001). The most frequently reported cause of injury was excessive training and chronic fatigue (x 2 = 50.251, p < 0.001). All three types of athletes showed a higher proportion of injury at the training location than at the competition location. The period for the return to training was ≤1 week for sparring (40.80%) and poomsae (64.10%) athletes but 2-3 weeks for demonstration (27.8%) athletes (x 2 = 45.582, p < 0.001). Diverse strategies, ranging from wearing protective gear to adopting a conditioning strategy and psychological training, are needed for each competition format of Taekwondo to prevent injuries in daily training.