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Fundamental Biomechanical Principles

and Sport-Specific Loads in Combat
Sports: Implications for Injury

Prevention

Rok Vatovec
© 2026 Rok Vatovec
https://doi.org/10.26493/978-961-293-570-2.5

Introduction
Combat sports subject athletes to frequent high-intensity interactions
with opponents, involving rapid accelerations, rotations, impacts, and
multidirectional loading during striking, clinching, throwing, and ground-
based actions (Hammami et al., 2018). Injury surveillance across combat
sports consistently indicates that injury patterns are discipline-specific,
with the knee, shoulder, and head and neck among the most common-
ly affected anatomical regions, particularly in grappling-based sports
where contact mechanisms and falls are prevalent (Lystad et al., 2021;
Pocecco et al., 2013). These epidemiological observations identify which
anatomical regions are most frequently injured; however, they do not ful-
ly explain how sport-specific actions generate the mechanical conditions
that lead to tissue overload.
Injury prevention in sport is influenced not only by the quantity of
training performed, but also by the manner in which athletes move and
transmit forces through the body (Bahr & Krosshaug, 2005). In combat
sports, every technique – from guard positions to throws and striking
combinations – reflects biomechanical principles and movement strate-
gies that can either distribute loads efficiently or concentrate stress on
specific anatomical structures (Bartlett, 2014; Knudson, 2021).
Biomechanics provides the conceptual tools to describe how forces,
moments, impulse, and movement coordination determine both perfor-
mance effectiveness and the mechanical stress imposed on biological tis-

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