Epidemiology of Judo-Related Injuries in 21 Seasons of Competitions in France: A Prospective Study of Relevant Traumatic Injuries.

BACKGROUND: Judo is a full-contact fighting sport that may lead to severe injuries. There are limited data available on the incidence of judo-related injuries. The French Judo Federation has established a surveillance system to document the frequency and type of injuries during judo competitions. PURPOSE: To describe the incidence rates and types of judo-related traumatic injuries during 21 seasons of competitions in France with respect to athlete (judoka) age, sex, and level of performance. STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive epidemiology study. METHODS: Between 1993 and 2014, each physician in charge of each judo competition filled out a form in which he/she documented the number of competing judokas, the number of fights, the number of medical interventions, the specific type of traumatic injuries for each intervention, the number of fight interruptions, and the number of athletes removed from the competition venue because of an injury. The age, sex, and level of performance of each judoka were also documented. Variance analysis was applied to assess whether differences in incidence rates of injuries between groups were significant (Student t test and chi-square test). RESULTS: Surveillance of 421,670 fights demonstrated 3511 injuries in 316,203 judokas (incidence proportion, 1.1%). Among the injuries recorded, the most common were sprains (54.3%), fractures (15.6%), and dislocations (12.5%). Female athletes exhibited significantly higher incidence rates for knee sprains and elbow dislocations, whereas male athletes exhibited a higher incidence rate for shoulder dislocations (P < .001 for all). Regarding age, higher incidence rates were observed in young adults (aged 18-20 years) for acromioclavicular sprains and in children (aged 10-14 years) for clavicle fractures compared with adults (aged 21-35 years) (P < .001 for both). Both young adult and adult athletes had a higher incidence rate of shoulder dislocations (P < .001). Regarding the level of performance, athletes competing at higher levels had a higher incidence rate of sprains to the knee (P < .001). CONCLUSION: During 21 years of surveillance of injuries in judo competitions in France, the incidence proportion of injuries was 1.1%. Significant differences in incidence rates demonstrated when considering age, sex, and level of performance may help in developing strategies to prevent traumatic injuries in the future.

About a singular anatomic specimen given by Dominique Larrey to Paris medical school.

The Dupuytren Museum in Paris has a remarkable anatomic specimen which figures in the surgeon Larrey's works of 1812 and 1829. It consists of a soldier's skull impaled by the ramrod of the musket of one of his co-soldiers. The wounded soldier survived two days with this ramrod through his head. Besides this singular case, Larrey reports several observations of the uses and misuses of trephination with local and general appropriate cares to provide. Indications are also exposed in the Dictionnaire des sciences medicales Panckoucke published in 1821.

[Amputation and equipment of the lower limb during the Revolution and the Empire]. / Amputation et appareillage du membre inférieur pendant la Révolution et l'Empire.

During the French Revolution and Napoleon's campaigns, above-knee or below-knee amputations were performed either immediately or with a delay, which favoured septic problems. A rapidly operated amputation by a well-trained surgeon was the best way to save the life of a soldier who suffered from an open comminuted fracture of a limb. The conditions on military campaigns were indeed hard ones: doctors and surgeons had practically no resources and the transportation of severely injured persons was difficult. Such conditions favoured the pain and the danger caused by an injury, and it was rather impossible for the medical corps to lavish repeated treatments on the wounds. The amputated soldiers were then given prostheses: either a traditional peg-leg, with a flexed knee joint for trans-tibial amputations, or an "imitative" prosthesis, which tended to look like a real leg with eventually an articulated knee or foot. The author mentions famous or unrecognized amputated men, describing significant events.

[In the footsteps of Dr. François Ribes, surgeon of the 1st division of the so-called ambulance of the battlefield]. / Sur les traces du docteur François Ribes, chirurgien de la 1ère division d'ambulance dite du champ de bataille.

François Ribes was a surgeon at Emperor Napoleon's so called ambulance of the battle field but he is not well known despite his high offices. On his record of service there are 20 battles, 17 fights and 3 sieges during the Revolution and Empire. Beside his numerous campaigns he was a surgeon at the parisian Invalides Hospital and was highly thought of as a good anatomist. He wrote 84 articles and 47 memoirs of which the best known is entitled History of the autopsy and embalming of Louis XVIII's corpse. However, as a health officer, he only wrote 40 pages about his military campaigns, published in 1845.