Volleyball Overhead Swing Volume and Injury Frequency Over the Course of a Season

Abstract

Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits you.ABSTRACT Background: Overuse injuries are common in volleyball; however, few studies exist that quantify the workload of a volleyball athlete in a season. The relationship between workload and shoulder injury has not been extensively studied in women's collegiate volleyball athletes. Hypothesis/Purpose:This study aims to quantify shoulder workloads by counting overhead swings during practice and matches. The purpose of the current study is to provide a complete depiction of typical overhead swings, serves, and hits, which occur in both practices and matches. The primary hypothesis was that significantly more swings will occur in practices compared to matches. The secondary hypothesis was that greater swing volume and greater musculoskeletal injury frequency will occur in the pre-season than during the season. Study Design: Prospective cohortMethods: Researchers observed practice and match videos and counted overhead serves and attacks of 19 women's collegiate volleyball players for two seasons. Serves, overhead hits, and total swings (serves + hits) were the dependent variables; event (matches and practice) along with position (defensive specialists, setter, outside hitter, and middle blocker) were the independent variables. Musculoskeletal injury frequency and swing volume workload were compared across pre-season and competitive season time periods.Results: Across all positions except outside hitters twice as many total swings occurred in practices compared to matches (p=.002) resulting in an average of 19 (CI 95 16.5, 21.5) more swings in practice than in matches. The average number of total swings during the pre-season 47.1 (CI 95 44.1, 50.1) was significantly greater than average swings per session during the competitive season 37.7 (CI 95 36.4, 38.9) (p <0.001) resulting in a mean difference of 9.4 (CI 95 6.1, 12.7) swings. The number of athletes limited in participation or out due to a musculoskeletal injury during the pre-season (2.9%) was greater than during the season (1.1%) (p=0.042). Conclusion:These findings support the primary hypothesis that women's collegiate volleyball athletes swing more during practices than in matches. The higher average number of serves in the pre-season and the greater frequency of musculoskeletal injuries requiring participation restriction or removal from participation suggest that a concordant relationship may exist between workload and injury variables. Level of Evidence: 2

Quantifying External Load and Injury Occurrence in Women's Collegiate Volleyball Players Across a Competitive Season

“…The preseason period accounted for the highest training load, with JC and JL gradually decreasing over the course of the season. These data are consistent with overhead swing volume in women's collegiate volleyball players over the course of the season that are often associated with jumping and landing (serves, attacks) (32). However, these data are not consistent with trends in professional male volleyball players (23) and may be a function of NCAA rules that prohibit coach-athlete interaction during the period immediately before the preseason.…”

“…Two-a-day practices with high loads may place a volleyball athlete at risk for injury, especially considering that body mass, body mass index, percent body fat, and fat mass are highest in collegiate female athletes during the preseason (14). Whether it be lower-extremity injury from the repetitive jumping and landing or injury to the shoulder complex from high swing volumes (32), external training load during the preseason should be monitored.…”

Epidemiology of Injuries in National Collegiate Athletic Association Women's Volleyball: 2014–2015 Through 2018–2019

“…With these results, we indicate that chronic overuse mechanisms, likely exacerbated by muscular imbalances and repetitivehigh velocity movements, [14][15][16] may offer insight into the pathoetiology of the shoulder and trunk. Greater overhead swing volumes and workloads examined among volleyball players have been related to heightened injury risk 17,18 and further indicate that workload frequency and intensity are critical considerations for practice injury prevention. Similarly, given that noncontact injuries were prevalent in this study, and that nearly 60% of all overuse injuries occurred in the lower extremities, further attention to the etiology of lower-extremity overuse injuries in this population is also warranted, and the need to potentially intervene with injury prevention programs or prophylactic taping or bracing may be indicated.…”

Musculoskeletal, Functional and Performance Impairment in Female Overhead Athletes with a Previous Shoulder Injury

“…There is a growing interest in the different clinical aspects affecting the performance of this population, which is due to the low effectiveness of the therapeutic options. These aspects have become more important, since studies focusing on different sports like volleyball [ 47 ], softball [ 48 ], baseball [ 49 ], tennis [ 50 ] and swimmers [ 51 ] players have shown poorer function and performance after recovery from a shoulder injury. However, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to analyze the shoulder-related musculoskeletal and clinical impairments in female overhead athletes after a shoulder injury.…”