Page 68 - Safe Wrestling

Marina Dobnik

In combat sports, and particularly in wrestling, the practical rele-
vance of Haddon’s matrix becomes highly apparent because injury risk
is shaped not only by isolated biomechanical events but also by prepara-
tion quality, rule enforcement, emergency management, and rehabilita-
tion processes. For example:
•during the pre-event phase, host-related interventions may include
strength development, neuromuscular training, technical educa-
tion, and fatigue management;
• vector-related strategies may involve regulating dangerous grips or
techniques;
• environmental interventions may include mat quality standards,
coach supervision, and bout scheduling;
•during the event phase, rapid referee intervention, safe falling tech-
niques, and protective reactions may reduce injury severity; and
•during the post-event phase, access to medical care, evidence-based
rehabilitation, and safe return-to-play procedures become essen-
tial.

A major strength of Haddon’s matrix is that it broadens prevention
beyond isolated athlete-focused solutions and encourages systematic
thinking across multiple stages and organisational levels. This perspec-
tive is especially important in wrestling and other combat sports, where
effective prevention depends not only on athlete preparation but also
on coaching quality, officiating, competition management, medical sup-
port, and long-term athlete monitoring.
At the same time, the matrix remains sufficiently flexible to incor-
porate modern developments in sports-injury prevention, including
load monitoring, implementation science, behavioural interventions,
and multidisciplinary athlete-support systems. Consequently, Haddon’s
framework continues to serve as an influential conceptual foundation
for both public-health and sport-specific prevention strategies.
In combat sports, the practical application of the matrix can be illus-
trated through examples summarised in Table 4.1.
Haddon’s matrix does not prescribe specific measures; rather, it en-
ables coaches, healthcare professionals, and other specialists to think
systematically about options for reducing the risk of a specific type of
injury within a clearly defined population.
Based on such considerations, three main strategies are commonly ap-
plied (MacKay et al., 2006):

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