Prospective study of injury in volleyball players: 6 year results

BACKGROUND: The volleyball game has a high complexity and thus entails a lot of strain to the players. Due to this high and different training and competition strain comprehensive and individual training plans should be developed with competing training objectives in order to prevent injuries. OBJ ECTIVE: The aim of the study was to analyse prospectively over six seasons the acute and overuse injuries of a German male professional volleyball team. METHODS: The study included 34 male national league players from season the 2007/08 to 2012/13. All players received a sport medicine examination and a functional diagnosis before each season. Based on the results the players received an individual training plan. RESULTS: The players suffered 186 injuries. The prevalence of acute injuries was 1.94 per player and overuse injuries 0.64 per player. The incidence of acute injuries was 3.3/1000 h volleyball and overuse injuries 1.08/1000 h volleyball. The largest number of injuries was found in the spine. The players had most likely minor injuries. The players had significantly fewer injuries in their second season (1.92) than in their first season (3.25; p= 0.004). CONCLUSION: It could be concluded that volleyball is a sport with a relative low prevalence of injuries compared to other team sports. The prevalence of injury is 2.58 per player. Due to an injury a player dropped out 16.91 days per season. An individual training program seems to reduce the incidence of injury.