Which is the More Violent Sport: Football, Ice Hockey or Mma?

So what’s with all the rhetoric and discussion on MMA being a violent sport?  Have any of these detractors ever watched a football game?  Ice Hockey?  Rugby?  Talk about violent sports!  And these are all approved and sanctioned!  Senator McCain and a lot of politicians are on the anti-MMA bandwagon, although sources close to Senator McCain have told me personally that he’s “coming around” and is willing to take a closer look at the sport.  Well thank goodness for that, because what MMA was in 1995 is not what it is today.

A report by the Journal of Sports Science & Medicine, (JOSS&M) stated “The incidence of injury in combat sports has not been adequately reported although it is important to identify the nature and frequency of injuries prior to the implementation of prevention programs.”  In their study, they “compared injury rates treated in Hospital Emergency Departments between different combat sports of boxing, wrestling, and martial arts.  A secondary objective described anatomic region and diagnosis of these injuries.  Data were obtained on all boxing, wrestling, and martial arts-related injuries that were in the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System database and resulted in Emergency Department visits between 2002 and 2005.” 

Their findings?  “Martial arts had lower injury rates compared to boxing and wrestling for all diagnoses (p<0.001).  Boxing had lower injury rates compared to wrestling for strains/sprains and dislocations.  Boxing and wrestling had similar injury rates for concussions.”

Their recommendation?  Stop fighting?  Ban MMA?  Nope.  In fact the report suggested that “Injury prevention efforts should consider the distribution of injuries and concentrate on preventing strains/sprains in wrestling, concussions in boxing and wrestling, and fractures for all three activities.”  So basically, like with any other sport, one should take proper care and use preventative measures when training or competing.  Okay – good to know. 

The JOSS&M report went further:  “The findings of the present study do not provide evidence that combat sports have alarmingly high rates of injuries resulting in emergency department visits.”  Interesting.  Hope Senator McCain reads this report.  You can find the whole study here:  http://www.jssm.org/combat/2/11/v6combat2-11.pdf

Next I’ll talk about sports injuries in football and ice hockey.  Make a little comparison.  Should be interesting.