Page 67 - Safe Wrestling

Models of Injury Occurrence, Prevention and Prediction

• modifying or adapting the vector (e.g., improving equipment stan-
dards or enforcing protective requirements); and
• improving the environment through safer surfaces, better training
organisation, qualified supervision, and rule modifications.

From a practical perspective, however, the epidemiological model al-
so has important limitations. Although highly useful for identifying direct
injury mechanisms, it places relatively limited emphasis on broader or-
ganisational and systemic influences such as coaching philosophy, long-
term athlete management, seasonal training load accumulation, institu-
tional culture, or communication structures within sport organisations
(Bilban, 2014). These factors are particularly relevant in wrestling and
combat sports, where injury risk often emerges cumulatively through re-
peated exposure and training behaviours rather than through isolated in-
cidents alone.
This limitation is partly addressed through the development of more
comprehensive frameworks, particularly Haddon’s phase-factor matrix,
which expands the epidemiological perspective by incorporating tempo-
ral and contextual dimensions of injury prevention.
Haddon’s Phase-Factor Matrix of Injury Prevention
Haddon’s phase-factor matrix extends the epidemiological model by in-
troducing an explicit temporal dimension to injury occurrence and pre-
vention. Rather than viewing injury as a single isolated event, the model
conceptualises injury as a process unfolding across different stages, each
of which offers opportunities for preventive intervention (Haddon, 1980).
The matrix distinguishes three temporal phases:
• Pre-Event phase – the period before injury occurrence, involving fac-
tors that influence whether the injury event will occur at all;
• Event phase – the injury event itself, characterised by the transfer of
energy to the host; and
• Post-Event phase – the period following injury occurrence, includ-
ing emergency response, medical management, rehabilitation, and
long-term consequences.

These temporal phases are then combined with the four groups of epi-
demiological factors – host, agent, vector, and environment – which in-
teract throughout the injury process. The resulting matrix creates a mul-
tidimensional framework in which each cell represents a potential pre-
ventive strategy or intervention point (Bilban, 2014).

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