Concussion knowledge, attitudes and reporting intention among adult competitive Muay Thai kickboxing athletes

The medical question

How likely are fighters to report concussion symptoms, and what do they know about concussion?

The Fight Medicine Research Institute uses this evidence to frame questions about concussion knowledge among fighters, their willingness to report symptoms, and the role of concussion education. The study’s volunteer sample of mostly amateur Muay Thai kickboxing athletes in North America and its self-report method determine which questions it can inform.

Summary

In a survey of 193 adult competitive Muay Thai kickboxing athletes in North America, 69.4% indicated that they were likely to report concussion symptoms.

What the work reports

• Adult athletes registered with the Thai Boxing Association Sanctioning Authority, which sanctions amateur Muay Thai kickboxing events in North America, were invited by email to complete an anonymous online survey. It included the Rosenbaum Concussion Knowledge and Attitudes Survey, which gives a knowledge score out of 25 and an attitude score out of 75. 193 athletes completed it, an estimated response rate of 26.0%.
• The mean knowledge score was 19.5 out of 25 and the mean attitude score was 62.7 out of 75. 134 respondents (69.4%) indicated that they were likely to report concussion symptoms and 33 (17.1%) that they were unlikely to. Some knowledge items had few correct answers. For example, 30.6% knew that brain imaging typically shows no visible damage after a concussion, and 19.7% distinguished loss of consciousness from coma.
• The authors found no significant predictors of knowledge, attitudes or reporting intention among sex, age, competitive level, training experience, fight experience and concussion history. They conclude that knowledge, attitudes and reporting intention were reasonably good with room for improvement, and they recommend concussion education based on current evidence for kickboxing athletes and coaches.

Limits to keep in mind

• Cross-sectional and self-reported. Reporting intention was measured with one questionnaire item, and the study did not observe whether athletes reported symptoms.
• Participants volunteered, and the estimated response rate was 26.0%. The authors note that their views may not represent the athletes the sample was drawn from.
• The sample was limited to athletes in the United States and Canada, and 179 of the 193 were amateurs. The authors say the findings may differ in other parts of the world, and that research is needed on whether other full-contact combat sports differ.

Source issues recorded

• The article reports that 123 of 193 respondents (67.7%) were male. 123 of 193 is 63.7%. This record gives the counts as the source reports them.
• The Methods section counts 743 recently active athletes on the mailing list. The Results section calculates the response rate as 193 of 742.
• Table 2 of the article gives mean knowledge scores of 19.6 for male and 20.0 for female respondents, and mean attitude scores of 63.0 for amateurs and 64.0 for professionals. In each pair both subgroup means are above the overall mean given in the text (19.5 for knowledge, 62.7 for attitudes). This record gives the overall figures as the source reports them.

Publication status and notices

Published in Injury Epidemiology, a peer-reviewed journal. Original research article in Injury Epidemiology.

Form of this work: Version of record. The version of record is the final article as issued by its publisher.

No correction or retraction notice was found in Crossref or Europe PMC when this record was checked.

Fight Medicine Research Institute contribution

Fight Medicine Research Institute selected and catalogued this study, prepared an original research summary, verified its bibliographic details, and maintains the associated citation record.

PDF files

Article details

Relationship

External research catalogued by the Fight Medicine Research Institute. The original authors, journal and DOI are unchanged.

Published online

11 June 2018

Issue date

December 2018, volume 5, issue 1

Repository date

11 June 2018 (Europe PMC first-publication date)

Date used here

11 June 2018 (Crossref publisher deposit, online publication date)

Rights

CC BY 4.0. Open access under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY 4.0), as recorded by Europe PMC and the licence link in the source record. The summary on this page is Fight Medicine Research Institute’s own wording. No text or figure from the article is reproduced here. Licence terms.

Source check

12 November 2026, against PubMed Central full text, Crossref and Europe PMC. Checked under the direction of Casey C. Sears, Founder. An LLM was utilized as a research tool with direct human oversight.

Appraisal

The check covered bibliographic details, links, licence and notices. It is not a formal critical appraisal of the full paper.

Clinical review

None. This record is a research summary, not clinical education.

Funding and conflicts

The article states that the study did not receive any funding and that the authors declare no competing interests.

Catalog

FH-044, added 12 November 2026

Cite the original work

These files cite the work by its own authors, journal and DOI. Fight Medicine Research Institute appears only in a note, as curator of this catalog page.

Reidar P Lystad, Stephen J Strotmeyer. Concussion knowledge, attitudes and reporting intention among adult competitive Muay Thai kickboxing athletes: a cross-sectional study. Injury Epidemiology. 2018;5(1):25. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40621-018-0155-x

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