# Analysis of Sports Injury in Lower Extremities of High School Taekwondo Athletes
## 4 Discussion and Conclusions  
This study was designed to identify the characteristics and causes of sports injuries in 473 high school Taekwondo athletes who were surveyed on their experience with sports injuries, causes (injury by person vs. non-contact injury), re-injury rate, injury period, and injury mechanism. We found that sports injuries caused by a person occurred more frequently than non-contact injuries. This can be explained by the nature of the Taekwondo competition. When competing with an opponent, we found that interpersonal injuries by an individual are inevitably frequent, which agrees with the results of a study by [11]. In addition, national Taekwondo athletes (mostly adults) were reported to sustain several injuries in the lower extremities, including the ankles, knees, and thighs [7]; however, here, high school athletes are reported to injure the knees most, followed by the thighs and ankles. Therefore, sports injuries may be directly associated with the career levels of the athletes, but further research is warranted to determine the exact correlation. In contrast, with respect to injuries by a person, high school Taekwondo athletes experienced more injuries during practice than during competition. In the 2012 London Olympic Games, a higher number of injuries occurred during practice (66.7%) than during competitions (33.3%) [3]. This is because in all competitive sports, including Taekwondo, athletes spend more time training than competing. The results of our present study showed that there were many non-contact re-injuries of the ankle. The non-contact injuries of the thigh that occur frequently during competition are indications that athletes may require more proprioceptive training [12] and balance training [13], which could allow athletes to properly place their feet on the mat after a striking movement, such as after performing a kick. Non-contact injuries of the anterior cruciate ligaments have been investigated in several studies as they frequently occur in soccer [14]. The occurrence of non-contact knee injuries in high school Taekwondo athletes stresses the necessity of an injury-prevention strategy and program, especially as 66.7% of athletes with previous injuries were found to suffer chronic pain [15]. Therefore, to reduce the occurrence of chronic pain in high school athletes, various programs need to be implemented to prevent injuries. Moreover, ankles were found to have a high re-injury rate, even with non-contactinjuries. Therefore, prevention and training are necessary to reduce the prevalence of chronic pain among athletes. An analysis of the causes of injury in both sexes according to weight class and injury site showed no differences in any areas, except in the ankles. Ankle injuries were thought to occur more frequently in heavyweight competitions; however, in this research, the results showed that ankle injuries were more numerous in lightweight men's competitions. This can be explained by the strategies applied in the competitions and, moreover, by the different training methods of athletes in different weight classes. In particular, the lightweight class, with a higher number of step movements and kicks, had a greater number of ankle injuries than the heavyweight class. This study has some limitations. The injuries were limited to the lower extremities, and the research method was a self-survey. In addition, as sports damage was not studied according to age, it seems necessary to include this in future studies. Nevertheless, this study's [16; 17] strength is in the method by which we investigated the student athletes, which was not followed in prior studies. We also identified the mechanisms of injury in the athletes by differentiating between the causes (injury by person vs. non-contact injury). We think that the results of this study can provide basic data to be used for implementing programs or training guidelines to prevent sports injuries in the future.