Common sports injury in karate practitioner: a bibliometric analysis and mini-review (1992–2021)

Abstract

Karate is a Japanese martial art which emphasizes character development and self-discipline. However, noticeable karate practitioners contracted injuries during training and competition. The aim of this study is to visualize the knowledge map of sports injury in karate research through bibliometric analysis. Also, the common injury among the karate practitioner and their associated causes is included in the mini-review section. The global developments and research landscape on sports injury of karate were examined based on 139 publications (1992–2021) extracted from the Web of Science (WoS). The emerging trend in the research areas was observed in 2016. The top leading countries indicated that the USA has published the most publications related to sports injury research in karate. This manuscript reviewed the potential injuries and their associated causes. Knee injuries were the most prevalent, and they could be contracted during training or tournament. These findings would be useful for the instructor and clinicians in designing some training activities, which aim to reduce the risk of the practitioner contracting injury. In future studies, it is recommended to conduct the injury assessment on the traditional karate practitioner such as Kyokushin Kai (full-contact karate style). Such exploration could provide insight into karate-associated injuries and reduce the bias in bibliometric data analysis.