TY - JOUR PY - 2020// TI - Contact - but not foul play - dominates injury mechanisms in men's professional handball: a video match analysis of 580 injuries JO - British journal of sports medicine A1 - Luig, Patrick A1 - Krutsch, Werner A1 - Henke, Thomas A1 - Klein, Christian A1 - Bloch, Hendrik A1 - Platen, Petra A1 - Achenbach, Leonard SP - ePub EP - ePub VL - ePub IS - ePub N2 - AIM: We aimed to identify patterns and mechanisms of injury situations in men's professional handball by means of video match analysis.

METHODS: Moderate and severe injuries (absence of >7 days) sustained in competition in one of six seasons (2010 to 2013 and 2014 to 2017) in men's professional handball were prospectively analysed with a newly developed standardised observation form. Season 2013 to 2014 was excluded because of missing video material.

RESULTS: 580 injuries were identified: 298 (51.4%) contact injuries, 151 (26.0%) indirect contact injuries and 131 (22.6%) non-contact injuries. Head (87.5%), hand (83.8%), shoulder (70.2%) and ankle (62.9%) injuries were mainly sustained during direct contact. Typical contact injuries included collision with an opponent's upper extremity or torso, and ankle injuries mainly consisted of foot-to-foot collisions. A large proportion (41.7%) of knee injuries were caused by indirect contact, whereas thigh injuries mainly occurred (56.4%) through non-contact mechanism. Wing (56.9%) and pivot (58.4%) players had the highest proportion of contact injuries, whereas backcourt players had a high proportion of indirect contact injuries (31.5%) and goalkeepers of non-contact injuries (48.9%). The injury proportion of foul play was 28.4%. Most injuries occurred in the central zone between the 6-metre and 9-metre lines (26.1%) and during the last 10 min of each match half (OR 1.71, p=0.016).

CONCLUSIONS: In men's professional handball in a league setting, contact - but not foul play - was the most common mechanism associated with moderate and severe injuries. Head, hand, shoulder and ankle injury were mainly sustained during direct contact.

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Language: en

LA - en SN - 0306-3674 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2018-100250 ID - ref1 ER -