Incidence, aetiology and prevention of musculoskeletal injuries in volleyball: A systematic review of the literature

Abstract

Currently, there is no overview of the incidence and (volleyball-specific) risk factors of musculoskeletal injuries among volleyball players, nor any insight into the effect of preventive measures on the incidence of injuries in volleyball. This study aimed to review systematically the scientific evidence on the incidence, prevalence, aetiology and preventive measures of volleyball injuries. To this end, a highly sensitive search strategy was built based on two groups of keywords (and their synonyms). Two electronic databases were searched, namely Medline (biomedical literature) via Pubmed, and SPORTDiscus (sports and sports medicine literature) via EBSCOhost. The results showed that ankle, knee and shoulder injuries are the most common injuries sustained while playing volleyball. Results are presented separately for acute and overuse injuries, as well as for contact and non-contact injuries. Measures to prevent musculoskeletal injuries, anterior knee injuries and ankle injuries were identified in the scientific literature. These preventive measures were found to have a significant effect on decreasing the occurrence of volleyball injuries (for instance on ankle injuries with a reduction from 0.9 to 0.5 injuries per 1000 player hours). Our systematic review showed that musculoskeletal injuries are common among volleyball players, while effective preventive measures remain scarce. Further epidemiological studies should focus on other specific injuries besides knee and ankle injuries, and should also report their prevalence and not only the incidence. Additionally, high-quality studies on the aetiology and prevention of shoulder injuries are lacking and should be a focus of future studies.

The ‘Sequence of Prevention’ for musculoskeletal injuries among recreational basketballers: a systematic review of the scientific literature

“…All prevention studies have shown to have a significant effect on reducing the risk of injury ranging from an odds ratio of 0.175 (95% CI: 0.049-0.626) for training injuries and a relative risk of 0.83 (95% CI: 0.57-1.19) achieved with FIFA 11+ prevention exercises and sport-specific balance training, relatively. The four steps of van Mechelen's 'sequence of prevention' model remain widely used when it comes to descriptive epidemiology, etiology and prevention of sports injuries [2,50]. Our results suggest that ankle and knee injuries were the most common injuries among recreational basketball players.…”

Plantar Fascia Rupture in Elite Athlete of Volleyball - Case Report

“…Therefore, there is an agreement in the research on the use of a south-pedal orthosis, a period without body load, physiotherapy and adequate use of foot orthoses leading to complete recovery of plantar fascia rupture. 5,8,9,11 However, there is no consensus of a physiotherapeutic protocol for the treatment of this lesion. The efficacy of preventive strategies such as stretching exercises and control of the intensity of running (e.g., limiting distance, frequency, and duration) is not known.…”

“…Leach et al 7 reported that in 6 ruptures of the plantar fascia, 5 had previously been injected. Sellman 9 reported 37 patients with ruptures, all associated with prior corticosteroid injection. Acevedo et al 5 reported 51 ruptures, with 44 cases that underwent injection therapy.…”

Prevalence of Neuromuscular Deficiencies Associated With Non-Contact Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury in Healthy Collegiate Student-Athletes

“…Conventionally, 3-dimensional motion capture during high impact activities, such as directional changes and landing is used to assess kinematic variables and to identify knee and ACL injury risks [8,9]. However, using such analysis for assessments is time consuming and costly; thus, it is impractical in most clinical settings.…”