Injuries in Muay Thai:
Anatomical Location
The Muay Thai also called as Thai Boxing is a combat sport that originated in Thailand.
In Thailand, muay thai is considered the national sport.
Sports such as kickboxing and full contact despite having similar technical actions to muay thai, have different rules.
Muay Thai fights are characterized by the use of hands, elbows, knees and legs in order to score points or to get the knockout (Baptista, 2015).
According to Turner (2009) and Zazryn et al (2003) the muay thai practitioners can perform punches (straight, hook, and uppercut), kicks, kneeing, elbowing, and grapple to fight with their opponents.
In muay thai training and competition, athletes use the different skills in a coordinated way and with the use of muscular strength and power (Turner, 2009 ; Ângelo, 2013 ; Rosa, 2015).
In this type of sport, athletes are divided by classes (A, B and C) and also by weight and gender category (Baptista, 2015).
Class A athletes are considered professional, those of class B are semi-professional and class C are amateurs. This division of classes varies greatly from country to country and also gymnasium to gymnasium.
In combats, to minimize injuries, athletes are required to wear protective equipment such as gloves, among others (Mortatti et al, 2013).
In this aspect, Gartland et al (2001) reports that beginner athletes are not allowed contacts. In amateur athletes there is full contact and they use the following protective equipment: shinguards, groin protector, trunk pads, boxing gloves, elbow pads, mouthguards, and protective headgear. Finally, professional athletes wear only mouthguards, groin protectors, and boxing gloves.
Muay Thai fights vary a lot according to the rules. In general, a competition contains 3 to 12 rounds of duration ranging from 2 to 4 minutes, and pauses between them for recovery of 1 to 2 minutes (Slimani et al, 2017).
From the point of view of physical preparation, we can say that muay thai is a intermittent modality involving force and power (Turner, 2009).
In metabolic terms, muay thai requires both the glycolytic and oxidative pathways (Mortatti et al, 2013). Rodrigues Silva et al (2011) found an effort-pause relationship in muay thai in the order of 9s : 12s (near 2: 3).
Some of the relevant characteristics of muay thai athletes would be high mesomorphic values, and low fat percentile. In the cardiovascular issue, VO2max values tend to range from 48.0 to 61.0 ml\kg\min (Slimani et al, 2017).
According to Teodoro (2013) in the studies about athletes who practice combat sports, there is an integration between theory and practice in the search for a greater understanding of different phenomena.
Usually when talking about combat sports injuries,the view that arises is about a high number of injuries due to the constant contact of the athletes and the force of the blows applied.
Strotmeyer et al (2016) reinforce this information by advocating that combat sports are considered more dangerous in relation to other types of athletic activities.
When reviewing the scientific literature on specific injuries in muay thai, it was found that the number of epidemiological studies is not large.
In Batista’s interpretation (2015) the most serious muay thai injuries tend to occur in sparring and competition practices.
These two circumstances are where athletes perform more physical contact.
In relation to dental trauma, Shirani et al (2010) compared four modalities (boxing, kickboxing, muay thai and taekwondo). Among the types of dental trauma found, we can mention: avulsion, displacement, luxation, and fracture (nose, zygoma, mandible).
Batista (2015) found maxillofacial and tooth fractures in Portuguese Muay Thai athletes.
In Ângelo’s research (2013) 87% of muay thai athletes wear mouthguards. According to the author, the greatest difficulty for athletes to use the mouthguard is due to discomfort.
It appears that superficial lacerations, bruising and contusions are not considered by athletes as injuries, due to very frequent occurrences and little recovery time (Gartland et al, 2001 ; Baptista, 2015).
It is well documented that lower limbs are considered to be the region most injured in muay thai practice (Gartland et al, 2001 ; Vanseenon et al, 2015 ; Baptista, 2015 ; Strotmeyer et al, 2016).
Vanseenon et al (2015) studied ankle and foot problems in 123 muay thai athletes; 42 beginners, 39 amateurs and 42 professionals. In the results, the most common types of problems mentioned: callosity (59%),tight heel cords (57%), toe deformities (49.3%),wounds (10%) and heel pain (9%).
The authors attribute these problems because of the sporting modality being practiced with bare feet for long periods.
The authors attribute these problems because of the sporting modality being practiced with bare feet for long periods.
The anatomical segment affected: shoulder (17,94%),knee (15,4%), wrist (9,0%), hand/fingers (7,7%), thigh(7,7%), foot (7,7%), head (5,1%), arms (5,1%), ankle(5,1%), low back (3,8%), legs (3,8%), neck (2,6%),elbow (1,3%), chest (1,3%), pelvis (1,3%), among others (2,6%) (Junqueira, 2016).
In a sample of 195 muay thai athletes, Strotmeyer et al (2016) found the following types of lesions: bruise/contusion (38,7%), cut/laceration(14,4%), swelling/inflammation (13,5%), fracture(12,6%), concussion (5,4%), sprain, strain, overexertion (10,8).
In another research carried out with 33 practitioners, the following types of lesions were found: contusion(25,6%), muscle injury (21,8%), tendinitis(5,1%), dislocation (19,2%), cut (1,3%), sprain(2,6%), fracture (7,7%), and other (21,8%) (Junqueira, 2016).
The mechanisms generating injuries: struck by opponent (67,5%), collision with opponent(12,3%), lifting/pulling (1,8%), and other (9,0%) (Strotmeyer et al, 2016).
Knee ligament injuries affect muay thai fighters. Almeida et al (2014) presents a case study with a muay thai female athlete affected by a bilateral rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament of the knee.
In the literature, a case of testicular trauma was reported in a young muay thai athlete (Maia et al, 2011).
Sousa et al (2017) applied the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) in muay thai athletes. The average score found in the FMS was 15.75 +/- 1.33. According to the authors, considering the cut grade 14,0, the athletes evaluated do not present major motor dysfunctions.
In a comparison between classes of muay thai athletes, the most injured were class A (mean of 1,4 injuries per athlete), class B (mean of 1,0 injuries per athlete) and class C (mean of 0,85 injuries per athlete) (Batista, 2015).
So I found a comparative article that shows the profile of injuries in beginners, amateurs and professional muay thai athletes.
✅The infographic was adapted from Gartland et al (2001). Injury and injury rates in muay thai kick boxing. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 35 (05); 308–313.
✅ See FIGURE below
*** This article was originally published in my BLOG.***
*** My BLOG: https://adrianovretaros.blogspot.com/
REFERENCES
Almeida et al (2014). Fisioterapia no tratamento conservador da ruptura do ligamento cruzado anterior seguida por ruptura contralateral: estudo de caso. Fisioterapia e Pesquisa, 21 (02); 186–192.
Ângelo, GFNR (2013). Estudo da prevalência da utilização de protetores bucais em praticantes da arte marcial. Dissertação de Mestrado em Medicina Dentária — Universidade Fernando Pessoa.
Baptista, TM (2015). Caracterização do perfil lesional do praticante de muay thai em Portugal. Dissertação de Mestrado em Treino de Alto Rendimento — Universidade de Lisboa.
Campos, AAA (2015). Prevalência de lesões em um grupo de praticantes de jiu-jitsu e muay thai da cidade de Palmas -TO. Monografia de Conclusão de Curso Bacharelado em Educação Física — Centro Universitário Luterano de Palmas.
Gartland et al (2001). Injury and injury rates in muay thai kick boxing. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 35 (05); 308–313.
Gartland et al (2005). A prospective study of injuries sustained during competitive muay thai kickboxing. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, 15 (01); 34–36.
Halil et al (2010). Examination of the injuries on the muay thai athletes. Ovidius University Annals, Series Physical Education & Sport/Science, Movement & Health, 10 (02).
Junqueira, NKB (2016). Caracterização das lesões osteomioarticulares em praticantes de muay thai do Distrito Federal. Monografia de Conclusão de Curso Bacharel em Fisioterapia — Faculdade de Ceilândia.
Lystad, RP (2015). Injuries to professional and amateur kickboxing contestants a 15-year restropective cohort study. Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, 03 (11); 2325967115612416.
Maia et al (2011). Trauma testicular. Revista do Médico Residente, 13 (01); 01–06.
Mortatti et al (2013). Efeitos da simulação de combates de muay thai na composição corporal e em indicadores gerais de manisfestação de força. Revista Conexões, 11 (01); 218–234.
Ribas et al (2015). Comparação do tempo de reação de praticantes da modalidade muay thai com diferentes níveis de experiência. Revista Brasileira de Prescrição e Fisiologia do Exercício, 09 (52); 129–133.
Rodrigues Silva et al (2011). Time-motion analysis in muay thai and kick boxing amateur matches. Journal of Human Sport and Exercise, 06 (03); 490–496.
Rosa, GJ (2015). Análise de valências físicas em lutadores de muay thai. Monografia de Conclusão de Curso de Bacharelado em Educação Física — Universidade Tecnológica do Paraná.
Shirani et al (2010). Prevalence of patterns of combat related maxillofacial injuries. J Emerg Trauma Shock, 03 (04); 314–317.
Slimani et al (2017). Kickboxing review anthrometric, psychophysiological and activity profiles and injury epidemiology. Biology of Sport, 34 (02); 185–196.
Sousa et al (2017). Aplicação da avaliação funcional de movimento (FMS) em praticantes de muay thai de Belo Horizonte\MG. Revista Interdisciplinar de Ciências Médicas, 01 (01); 51–61.
Strotmeyer et al (2016). Epidemiology of Muay Thai fight-related injuries. Injury Epidemiology, 03 (01); 30.
Teodoro, AM (2013). Planejamento do treinamento no cicloanual de lutadores do sexo masculino na modalidade de muay thai categoria adulto. Monografia de Pós-Graduação de Fisiologia do Exercício — Universidade Federal do Paraná.
Turner, A (2009). Strength and conditioning for muay thai. Strength and Conditioning Journal, 31 (06); 78–92.
Vanseenon et al (2015). Foot and ankle problems in muay thai kickboxers. J Med Assoc Thai, 98 (01); 65–70.
Zazryn et al (2003). A 16 year study of injuries to professional kickboxers in the state of Victoria, Australia.Bristish Journal of Sports Medicine, 37 (05); 448–451.
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