Injury by Regions Seen in Greco-Roman andFreestyle Wrestling

Background/Purpose: This study aimed to examine the regional differences of injuries of Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestlers. Participants (age: M 21.15 years, SD 3.54 years) comprised 100 Greco-Roman wrestlers and 100 freestyle wrestlers who attended national and international events from Kyrgyzstan and Turkey. Results indicated that whereas freestyle wrestlers suffered from knee, hand, wrist, and shoulder injuries more frequently than did Greco-Roman wrestlers, the latter experienced more rib, back, shoulder, and elbow injuries. According to the findings, ear fracture is the most common injury, with a rate of 69 among freestyle wrestlers and 71 among Greco-Roman wrestlers. In this study, the rate of knee injuries was 53 for freestyle wrestlers and 22 for Greco-Roman wrestlers. In general, the most common injuries were seen in knees among Greco-Roman wrestlers, freestyle wrestlers, and sambo and judo athletes. The findings of this study show that freestyler wrestlers have more knee injuries than do GrecoRoman wrestlers. Knee injuries occur as a result of incorrect wrestling techniques, overloading lower extremities during a match, and severely falling onto the mat. Participants indicated that the three most frequent causes of injury were inadequate free exercise (35), incorrect techniques (26.5), and inadequate recovery or insufficient rest (24.5). Wrestling injuries show regional differences depending on the style and techniques of wrestling. Wrestlers should take training as seriously as they do matches. They should strengthen the body parts they do not actively use in their techniques and they should do enough free exercise at warm-up before training and matches.