2018, Volume 14, Issue 1
The injury rate within the martial art of aikido
Philip Smith1
1Coventry University, Coventry, United Kingdom
Author for correspondence: Philip Smith; Coventry University, Coventry, United Kingdom; email: aa4426@coventry.ac.uk
Full text
Abstract
Background & Study Aim: Aikido is a traditional Japanese martial art practised by approximately 1.5 million people of all ages and both genders worldwide. This study aims to discover the injury rate in a group of traditional aikido practitioners.
Material & Methods: Adult practitioners (n = 75) who attended a United Kingdom Aikikai National Course held at Ren Shin Kan Aikido Club in Dudley, West Midlands. Applied the Extended Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ-E) and to consider which factors were significant as predictors of injury. Participants were grouped according to age, gender, experience, rank and frequency of training and these were these were compared with completed questionnaires to consider any correlation between these factors and rate of injury.
Results: High correlation of injury in those individuals who trained more than three sessions per week (r = 0.96) and/or of high rank (r = 0.85) although there was no correlation between injury rate and the other factors considered. Comparisons with similar studies in other arts showed aikido to have a higher injury rate than judo, taekwondo and karate but there was no significant similarity between aikido and these arts in the common areas of injury.
Conclusions: Aikido carries a high risk of injury for participants which is related to the frequency with which individuals train as well as their level of skill (there does, appear to be an increased risk for male practitioners who are of a high rank and train more than three times weekly). However it cannot be stated with any certainty which factors lead to increased risk of injury for practitioners.
Key words: area of injury, experience, frequency of training, risk of injury
