Page 61 - Safe Wrestling

4

Models of Injury Occurrence,

Prevention and Prediction
Marina Dobnik

© 2026 Marina Dobnik
https://doi.org/10.26493/978-961-293-570-2.4

Introduction
Injury risk is an inherent aspect of sport participation; however, in many
sports, it represents a major constraint on athlete development, perfor-
mance progression, and sustained training continuity. Beyond merely
counting injury occurrences, contemporary sports-injury research in-
creasingly emphasises injury severity and injury burden – such as time
loss, reduced participation, and long-term functional consequences – as
key indicators for prioritising prevention strategies (Kisser & Bauer, 2012;
Verhagen et al., 2024). In accordance with dynamic models of sports-
injury aetiology, injury risk is understood as a time-varying phenomenon
that reflects the interaction between changing athlete susceptibility and
repeated exposure to training and competition demands, rather than iso-
lated random events (Drew & Finch, 2016; Gabbett, 2016; Meeuwisse et
al., 2007).
From an aetiological perspective, sports injuries rarely arise from a sin-
gle direct cause. Instead, they typically emerge through complex interac-
tions between internal factors (e.g., previous injury history, physical ca-
pacity, neuromuscular control, and fatigue), external factors (e.g., rules,
equipment, environmental conditions, and training context), and a spe-
cific inciting event. Understanding how injury mechanisms develop and
interact is therefore a prerequisite for designing preventive strategies that
extend beyond generic recommendations or checklist-based approach-
es (Bahr & Krosshaug, 2005). In wrestling and other combat sports, this
mechanism-oriented perspective is particularly important because in-
juries frequently occur during high-load, opponent-dependent actions
– such as takedowns, throws, and grip fighting – where technique exe-

Plevnik, M., & Dobnik, M. (2026). Safe wrestling.
University of Primorska Press.