The epidemiology of injuries in Portuguese women's volleyball players of a team: a two-year analysis.

Background: Volleyball is one of the most played sports worldwide, classified as a non contact sport, it is played with fast and explosive full-body movements across the court and in the vertical resulting in different types of injuries. Aim: Analyse the pattern of injuries across athlete’s position, nature, anatomic regions and location, severity and number of treatment sessions required in a first division Portuguese women volleyball team during two seasons. Methods: A epidemiologic study was performed in a Portuguese women senior team of first division during two full seasons (n=18). Using a modified version of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) - Injury Surveillance System all the injuries were recorded and collected. Calculation of the incidence rate of injuries, the frequency, type of injuries, location, and distribution along the season and for athlete’s specific position. Results: Of the 18 athletes 93,8% suffered injuries during training. These athletes presented an incidence rate of 11injuires per 1000 athletes-hour exposure. The severity of reported injuries was mainly minor and only (20,5%) required more than 1 week of treatment sessions. The majority (57,7%) of the lesions was of overuse. Spikers were the athletes that presented more injuries and of those middle-blocker were mostly affected. Injuries of the shoulder complex were experienced mainly by the players with the position opposite, while setters had the higher percentage of the ankle joint injuries. Conclusion: Athletes presented a higher incidence rate of injuries during training. The severity was minor, and the nature of injuries varied depending on the athlete’s court position. Clinical relevance: Identifying injury patterns in female volleyball athletes at 1st division team level allowing for more efficient planning by technical and medical departments allowing for the develop of individualized injury prevention protocols.