Kickboxing e o Muaythai, due to their individual technique, require the implementation of wide movements to maintain balance, agility and muscular endurance. The frequency and intensity required by the practice of these modalities can predispose the athlete to possible musculoskeletal injuries, as well as postural changes and the occurrence of trauma.
Aim: Analyse the injuries that occurred during the practice of combat sports and the factors associated with them.
Method: We carried out na analytical cross-sectional study, in a population of 400 athletes who practice kicboxing, muaythai or both, obtaining a sample of 128 athletes of both sexes, aged between 15 and 45 years and residing in Mainland Portugal and Islands, who volunteered to participate in the estudy. As a data collection instrument, a closed questionnaire was prepared for the sociodemographic characterization, life habits, sports context and history of sports injuries. The questionnaire was inserted into the Google Forms computer platform, where an invitation link was generated, provided to the President of the Portuguese Kickboxing and Muaythai Federation, who, after contacting the coaches belonging to the kickboxing and muaythai clubs, sent the questionnaire link by email to fill in your athletes. These, after consenting to participate in the study, accessed the questionnaire. The study obtained favorable opinion nº 66/2021 from the Ethics Committee of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, as well as from the Portuguese Kickboxing and Muaythai Federation. For all variables, the absolute and relative frequencies were determinated, as well as the mean and standard deviation for continuous variables. The ANOVA and Tukey tests were used for the multiple comparison of variables, the significance value was 5%.
Results: The study sample is mostly male (84; 65,6%), with a higher prevalence of single marital status (79; 61,7%) and Portuguese nationality (124; 96,8%), with na average age 28,23 years old for females and 30,13 years old for males. Weight was significantly higher in men as was height. The mean BMI was 24 kg/m2. The prevalence of injuries was 49,2%. There was a statistically significant association between the number of injuries with males, the athlete's height, with the practice of both modalities simultaneously, in athletes who perform a greater number of training sessions per week, with the senior level in competition and in the professional class and also in athletes who have been practicing the modality for more than ten years (p<0.05). There was also an association in athletes who ingest between three to four coffees daily.
Conclusion: We observed that approximately half of the sample suffered injury. The number of injuries was related to males, to the senior level, to the highest athletes, those who practice both modalities and for a longer time, in competition and in the professional class, even in athletes who ingest between three to four coffees daily. Thus, we suggest a more frequent clinical monitoring of athletes, essentially in the identified groups and monitoring them during training and competition. The inclusion of the Specialist Medical-Surgical Nurse in the multidisciplinary team to assist athletes, in a competitive context, to monitor the athlete on the spot when injuries occur and plan their referral. We also suggest promoting campaigns to improve lifestyle habits, related to reducing caffeine intake, as well as carrying out other studies with larger samples, with the inclusion of other variables and different methodologies.
