Handball players’ training profile and its relation to potential injuries

Abstract

Although injuries in handball show high frequency and severity, the training profile of handball players and its rela-tionship to injuries has not been extensively investigated. The purpose of the study was to describe this relationship between players’ training profile and injuries. In total, 216 male and female players from A1 Division teams and play-ers from U19 and U17 teams answered a relevant questionnaire. The statistical analysis, including descriptive and inductive statistics (correspondence analysis, one-way analysis of variance [ANOVA], multivariate analysis of vari- ance [MANOVA], chi-square test), revealed that injured players mainly had ligament injuries of the lower extremities, especially the knee, while the mechanism most frequently reported by the players was an unfortunate moment. The frequency of injuries was higher in the game than in training, especially in attack, resulting in many serious injuries (return-to-play [RTP] ≥ 4 weeks). In most cases diagnosis was made by doctors while the therapeutic methods were different for each athlete. Correspondence analysis revealed that injured players were differentiated in terms of their training content and daily training, as well as competition level. The ANOVA showed that the severity of the injury was independent of all quantitative and qualitative variables examined, while the chi-square test indicated that the frequency appeared to be related to engaging in another sport prior to handball, to the playing position, and to prevention training. Further research is needed to clarify this issue.