Page 41 - Safe Wrestling

Injuries in Wrestling

include shoulder sprains and strains (including rotator cuff and acromio-
clavicular joint injuries), shoulder instability events, and elbow instabil-
ity patterns involving the ulnar collateral ligament. These findings cor-
respond closely with the sport’s reliance on hand fighting, posting, and
forceful upper-limb leverage during takedowns and transitional scram-
bles (Maunder et al., 2025).
A recurring theme across epidemiological studies is that injury risk in
wrestling is unevenly distributed across contexts and athlete character-
istics. Competition settings consistently demonstrate higher injury inci-
dence than training environments, and within-match injury risk appears
to increase during later phases of bouts. This pattern supports the pro-
posed role of fatigue, degraded neuromuscular control, and higher-risk
positional exchanges occurring under competitive pressure. At the colle-
giate level, novice athletes, particularly first-year competitors, have been
reported to sustain a disproportionate share of certain upper-extremity
injuries, potentially reflecting abrupt transitions in training volume, in-
tensity, and competitive pace when progressing from high school to
National Collegiate Athletic Association environments (Goodman et al.,
2018).
Beyond biomechanical demands, the culture surrounding weight-
class sports introduces additional pathways of injury risk. Rapid weight-
loss practices may increase physiological stress through dehydration,
impaired cognitive functioning, and reduced tissue resilience, and these
practices have been associated with elevated injury occurrence during
weight-cutting phases in combat-sport cohorts (Turnagöl et al., 2021).
Psychosocial stressors may also contribute to injury vulnerability and
recovery behaviour. Survey-based research in wrestling suggests that in-
juries may cluster during periods of heightened stress and aggressive
weight-management practices, while post-injury symptom burden of-
ten includes physical, behavioural, and psychological dimensions that
may negatively affect rehabilitation adherence and safe return-to-play
decision-making (Pedro & Martins, 2017). Over time, prolonged partic-
ipation at higher competitive levels may contribute to cumulative mi-
crotrauma, particularly involving the cervical spine, lumbar spine, and
knees, thereby highlighting the importance of integrating periodised
load management, technical coaching, and medical oversight rather than
relying exclusively on acute injury treatment strategies (Brzezi´nska et al.,
2022).
Lower-extremity injuries, particularly knee injuries, are common in

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