Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Injuries in Kho-Kho Players

Background: Kho-Kho, a popular sport in India, is a game of fitness, timing, reflex and stamina. This game involves rapid and forceful movements of the body as a whole with quick reflexes resulting in frequent injuries. These injuries result from accidents, poor training practices, inadequate facilities, lack of conditioning, or insufficient warm-up and stretching. It is necessary to understand the injury prevalence, so as to identify risk factors and to set up preventive measures. Objective: To determine the prevalence and nature of injuries in school and college going Kho-Kho players. Methods: Injuries in school and college going Kho-Kho players for past one year were assessed with the help of the questionnaire. Results: There was a higher prevalence of injuries (83.4%) in these young athletes. The time loss due to muscle and ligament injury was 1-3 weeks. Conclusion: A high prevalence of injuries was noted in school and college going kho-kho players in the past one year. Lower limb injuries were more common. The knee, ankle & foot and wrist & hand were the most commonly injured sites.