Received 27.05.2025, Revised 21.10.2025, Accepted 17.12.2025
The relevance of this work was driven by the high injury rate in judo, with damage to the musculoskeletal system, which required the development of effective comprehensive approaches to its prevention and rehabilitation. The aim of the study was to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a comprehensive programme for the prevention and medical rehabilitation of injuries in judo athletes. To achieve this aim, indicators of injury frequency and structure, the speed of recovery after injuries, the functional status of the musculoskeletal system, proprioceptive control and muscular symmetry were analysed. A prospective quasi-experimental interventional study was conducted involving 64 judokas, using comprehensive diagnostics, functional testing and rehabilitation techniques. Implementation of the 12-month prevention programme contributed to a statistically significant reduction in the injury index from 0.84 ± 0.21 to 0.40 ± 0.13 cases per 1,000 hours of training load (p < 0.01). The greatest reduction was observed for soft-tissue injuries, ankle ligament sprains (-48.6%), and shoulder girdle muscle injuries (-43.2%). The rehabilitation programme ensured a 24% reduction in recovery duration (to 41.7 ± 7.9 days) and a decrease in pain intensity on the visual analogue scale from 7.4 ± 1.2 to 1.6 ± 0.8 points (p < 0.001). The relapse rate was 6.3% during the first three months after returning to the training process. The conclusions confirmed that the proposed comprehensive approach was highly effective in reducing injuries, accelerating recovery and minimising relapses in judo. The developed recommendations can be integrated into the training process to reduce injury rates and extend the sporting career of judokas
kinesiotherapy; proprioception; musculoskeletal system; functional recovery; kinematic analysis