A sports injury in the narrow sense signifies the injury typical of a particular sports activity or a certain sport, determined by the way of occurrence and frequency.

One of the simplest definitions of an injury is: "The injury is all the damage to the tissue suddenly generated in a certain, defined and limited time.” From the medical point of view, sports injuries are a sub-part of the traumatology field that deals with injuries, no matter how they occur and where they are.

When it comes to sports injuries or damages, most of those are caused by mechanical force. Mechanical forces, however, are not considered to be only those that act externally, such as the kick of an object, an opponent's strike or a fall to the ground, but also they can be caused by the contractions of one’s own muscles from within. An example of injury occuring within the sport practitioner’s muscles is the Achilles tendon rupture due to strong muscular soleus contraction.

If we talk about the expected probability of a certain risk of injury in a particular sport, as well in martial arts, then we look at statistics. But data, statistics and records of sports injuries are first and foremost problematic. Records of statistical data depend on many factors, and these factors also depend on the health institution in which the data is collected. This can cause a lot of mistakes that give an incorrect picture of the real situation.

It can be hugely different to collect data in a general hospital or at a specialist sports injury facility. Also, a specialized institution will accept only certain selected athletes (especially according to the severity of the injury), so that no real statistical picture can be expected. Medical data in general is facing issues with accuracy of its own, but in martial arts (and sports in general) the problem is even more widespread.

A real picture or a more realistic picture of the number of injuries in a particular martial art can be obtained if the number of injuries is measured against the number of athletes. But it is very difficult, and practically impossible to gather correct information on the number of active athletes. A more doable approach is to compare the number of athletes insured (especially against injuries in sports) with the number of reported sports injuries.

According to the severity of injury, sports injuries can be labeled as follows:

1) - the most serious injuries - mortal

2) - severe injuries - with permanent disability for future work and sports,

3) - medium severe injuries - with a longer disability period for future work and sports,

4) - light injuries - with a short term inability to work and practice a sport

5) - very light injuries - with a short-term strain or no reduction whatsoever in work and sports ability.