TRUNK BIOMECHANICS DURING BREAKFALL FOR OSOTO-GARI AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH JUDO-RELATED HEAD INJURY RISK IN NOVICE JUDOKAS

The incidence of head injuries in novice judo practitioners is of increasing public concern in Japan. This study investigated the correlation between trunk biomechanics and judo-related head injury risk in novice judokas with the aim of developing effective injury prevention strategies. Thirty-one novice judokas were volunteered to participate the study. Three-dimensional motion analysis of the osoto-gari breakfall was performed. A multiple regression analysis was usedto test the correlation between trunk biomechanics and possible head injury risk. We found a significant correlation between the trunk COM velocity and the peak neck angular momentum (F= 13.29, df= 3, P\u3c 0.001, r= 0.77). The result suggests that controlling the trunk COM angular velocity may play an important role in judo-related head injury prevention for novice judokas