Prevalence and burden of overuse injuries in elite junior handball

Abstract

AimTo record overuse injuries among male junior handball players throughout a handball season.DesignProspective cohort study.MethodsTen Norwegian junior male handball teams (145 players aged 16–18 years) were followed for one 10-month season. All players were sent the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center Overuse Injury Questionaire every second week to record overuse injuries located in the shoulder, elbow, lower back and knee. The relative burden of overuse injuries was calculated in each anatomical area represented, defined as the proportion of the total cumulative severity score.ResultsThe average prevalence of all overuse injury problems was 39% (95% CI 29% to 49%) across all anatomical areas. The average prevalence of substantial overuse injury problems, defined as those leading to moderate or large reductions in training volume or sports performance, or to complete inability to participate, was 15% (95% CI 13% to 17%). Over the duration of the study, the cumulative incidence of overuse injury problems was 91% (133 players). Shoulder problems were the most prevalent (average prevalence 17%, 95% CI 16% to 19%), whereas knee problems had the greatest relative burden.ConclusionOveruse injuries, particularly in the shoulder and knee, have a substantial impact on junior handball players’ training participation and performance. Interventions to prevent overuse injuries among male junior handball players should focus on these areas.

Preseason Clinical Shoulder Test Results and Shoulder Injury Rate in Adolescent Elite Handball Players: A Prospective Study

“…We found that the average season and average weekly prevalence of substantial shoulder problems in adolescent players was 23% and 6%, respectively. This is in line with the prevalence reported in previous studies on adolescent (94) and adult players in Norway (40,44,74) ( Table 3). Aasheim et al reported an average weekly prevalence of any and substantial shoulder problem of 17% and 7%, respectively.…”

“…The most frequently reported injuries in adolescent handball are traumatic lower limb injuries, e.g. ankle, thigh and knee injuries, and hand/finger injuries (65,66,72,73,79,89,90,92,93,94) and overuse injuries in the shoulder and lower leg (72,90,93). An overview of injury distribution in adolescent handball is presented in Table 2.…”

“…Many previous studies on handball have not described the incidence rate of shoulder injuries in relation to the exposure, e.g. per 1,000 hours, but instead reported the number of shoulder injuries and the proportion of the total number of injuries or the prevalence of shoulder pain (40,44,48,65,67,68,70,74,85,94,(96)(97)(98)(99)(100). A summary of shoulder injuries and problems in handball is presented in Table 3.…”

“…The incidence for shoulder/upper arm injuries in adolescent players is between 0.2-1.44/1000 handball hours (36,73,75). The point prevalence of shoulder pain in adolescent players has been reported to be between 7-49% (94, 97, 98, 99) and a one-season prevalence to be between 25-63% (39,94,97). Moreover, the average week prevalence of shoulder problems and substantial shoulder problems has been reported to be 17% and 7% respectively (94).…”

“…In Study I, this definition was used to describe shoulder problems so that our results could easily be compared to other studies on handball players and other adolescent sports, e.g. volleyball (40,44,74,94). In Study III we a priori chose the injury definition of a score of 40 or more on the OSTRC overuse injury questionnaire since we also sought to capture pain.…”