1 TÜRKİYE PROFESYONEL LİGLERİNDE GÖREV ... - Spor Bilim

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Trauma Incidence of Elite Taekwondo Athletes, Preventive Measures and
Introduction
Forensic Aspects
Keçeci AD 1 , Eroglu E 2 , Baydar CL 3 , Cetin C 4 , Baydar ML 5 ,
Participation in martial arts has increased dramatically since mid 1980’s 15 in USA, while a
similar status could be observed in Turkey.
There are circa 110 000 licensed athletes in martial arts and 73000 of these belong to
taekwondo, which is in the second place after football with 200 000 licensed athletes, in
Turkey. 6 Martial arts are a form of physical activity, discipline and a self defense, improving
balance flexibility and strength. 27 Daniels and Thornton 4, 5 showed that training in martial arts
decreases hostility. Taekwondo is one of the martial arts originating from Korea. The
principals of taekwondo (Tae = jumping or flying, kicking or smashing with the foot, Kwon =
to punch or destroy with the fist, Do= the "art" or "way" of) aims to increase physical and
psychological discipline. 11 Although taekwondo was described not as a sport, but the way of
life or art of defense and it was featured on the program of the 1988 and 1992 Olympics as
demonstration sport, it became an official medal sport in 2000 Olympics. 12 In several studies,
the safety of martial arts was questioned. 14,15 While Birrer and Halbrook 1 reported martial arts
as safe, with the majority of injuries involving the extremities and being minor in nature,
many other studies reported the risk of severe injuries like head and neck, trunk and
extremities. 10,22,25,28,29 Soft tissue trauma, hematomas and lacerations are some of the most
common traumas. A frightening result of this sport can be that trauma can lead to death, such
as reported in three cases with anterior chest trauma. 28 A blow or kick from another player can