Prevention of injuries in young female players in European team handball. A prospective intervention study

Abstract

Young female players in European handball have a very high injury incidence, up to 50 injuries per 1000 hours of game. More than half of these injuries happen without any external cause. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of an intervention programme designed to reduce the number of injuries in young female players in European handball, with special emphasis on injuries in the lower extremities. The programme was created using elite athlete training programmes and those designed for rehabilitation of injured athletes with functional instability of their ankles and rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament. It included the use of an ankle disk for 10–15 min at all practice sessions, for one 10‐month season (August 1995‐May 1996). Twenty‐two teams participated in the study, and were randomly assigned to the intervention or control group. Eleven teams with 111 players were randomised to the intervention group and 11 teams with 126 players to the control group. Data were analysed using a t‐test for continuous variables, chi2‐analysis and Fisher's exact test for dichotomous variables and multivariate methods to determine odds‐ratios. The results indicated that using the intervention programme decreased the numbers of both traumatic and overuse injuries significantly. The differences in injuries between the groups were 80% during games and 71% during practice. In addition, the players in the control group had a 5.9 times higher risk of acquiring an injury than the players in the intervention group.

The effects of balance training on balance ability in handball players

“…Although a lot of studies proposed that a balance exercise program improve the balance ability deficits due to injury (Caraffa et al, 1996;Chong et al, 2001;Wedderkopp et al, 1999;Gioftsidou et al, 2006), there were found no studies measuring balance parameters and their possible improvements after an application of a specific balance exercise program in healthy professional handball male players.…”

“…Caraffa et al (1996) demonstrated in a prospective controlled study that the rate of ACL ruptures was remarkably reduced after introducing proprioceptive training on balance-boards to semiprofessional male soccer teams. Similarly, Wedderkopp and his partner (Wedderkopp et al, 1999) mentioned that the application of a balance training program on balance boards by healthy female handball players, for 10 months resulted in decrease of frequency of lower limb injuries.…”

“…The sport medicine literature reports team sports participants, such as handball, soccer, hockey, or basketball players, reported an increased risk of traumatic events, especially to their lower extremity joints (Hawkins, and Fuller, 1999;Meeuwisse et al, 2003;Wedderkopp et al 1997;. Injuries often occur in noncontact situations (Hawkins, and Fuller, 1999;Hertel et al, 2006) resulting in substantial and long-term functional impairments (Zech et al, 2009).…”

“…Also, rehabilitation bibliography supports that balance exercise programs may improve proprioceptive function not only during rehabilitation but also during the competition period, protecting athletes from forthcoming injuries effectively (Caraffa et al, 1996;Hoffman & Payne, 1995;Hewett et al, 1999;Wedderkopp et al, 1999;Hrysomallis, 2007;McHugh et al, 2007).…”

“…Furthermore, many scientists (Bahr et al, 1997;Caraffa et al, 1996;Wedderkopp et al, 1999;Soderman et al, 2000;Malliou et al, 2004;Gioftsidou et al 2006) support that balance exercises are essential to athletic performance and should be incorporated into an athlete's daily training. Recently published studies have shown that it is possible to prevent lower extremity injuries in handball (Petersen et al, 2002;Wedderkopp et al, 2003;Olsen et al, 2005).…”