Download women`s volleyball injuries

women’s
volleyball
injuries
Data from the 2004/05-2008/09 Seasons
In 2008-09, there were
1,015 NCAA member institution
teams and 14,827 participants.
The average squad size
was 15 players.
• The overall injury rate in NCAA women’s volleyball is 4.3 per 1,000 athlete exposures
(games and practices combined).
• There were more than 26,000 injuries and 6.1 million athlete exposures from 2004 to 2009.
• Volleyball players are just as likely to be injured in a game (4.2 injuries per 1,000 athlete
exposures) as in practice (4.4 injuries per 1,000 athlete exposures).
• Preseason has the highest overall injury rate (6.5 per 1,000 athlete exposures), while the
postseason has the lowest (2.4 per 1,000 athlete exposures) as compared to the in-season
injury rate of 3.6 injuries per 1,000 athlete exposures.
• Ligament sprains (28.2 percent), followed by muscle strains (21.7 percent), tendinosis
(7.5 percent) and contusions (4.6 percent), are the most common types of injuries.
• Ligament sprains of the lateral ankle (15.6 percent), concussions (4.1 percent), quadriceps (thigh)
muscle strains (4.0 percent), and abdominal strains (3.0 percent) are the most common types
of injury in women’s volleyball.
• The outside hitter suffered the most injuries (38.7 percent) for all positions, followed by middle
blocker (27.4 percent), libero (12.0 percent), setter (10.9 percent) and opposite/diagonal
player (7.5 percent).
Injuries Unique to Women’s Volleyball
Ligament sprains and muscle strains are the most common types of injury in NCAA women’s
volleyball. In addition, more than 51 percent of the injuries occur to the lower extremity. The
explosive, bounding nature of volleyball puts extraordinary amounts of strain on the lower
extremity, putting the ligaments and muscles at risk. Conversely, the upper extremity, primarily
the shoulder region, is at risk of overuse injuries because of the amount of overhead motion
required in the sport.
*
Catastrophic Injuries
During this five-year period, there were no fatalities from direct mechanisms and one from
indirect mechanisms in college volleyball.* During the 28 years that the National Center for
Catastrophic Sports Injury Research (NCCSIR) has collected collegiate volleyball data, there
have been no deaths related to direct means (collisions) and two related to indirect mechanisms
(exertion). During this same time period, there were no fatalities by either direct or indirect
mechanisms in high school volleyball reported by the NCCSIR.
Heat Related Injuries
Heat illness accounted for less than 1 percent of the specific injuries in NCAA women’s volleyball
during this time period. It is important to remember that heat illness is preventable and coaches,
athletic trainers and administrators should work diligently to prevent them, even in an indoor sport.
*National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research
Injury Percentage
Breakdown
Concussions
4.1%
Head, face and neck 2.3%
Upper limb 21.3%
Torso and pelvis 13.8%
Lower limb 51.1% Other 7.4% NCAA is a trademark of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Injury Overview
More Facts
Concussions
• A concussion is a brain injury.
• Concussions can occur from blows
to the body as well as to the head.
• Concussions can occur without
loss of consciousness or other
obvious signs.
• Concussions can occur
in any sport.
• All concussions are serious and
change a student-athlete’s behavior,
thinking or physical functioning.
• Recognition and proper response
to concussions when they first occur
can help prevent further injury or
even death.
about Collegiate
Women’s Volleyball Injuries
• Injury is defined as those that occurred
as a result of participation in an organized
intercollegiate game or practice, required
the attention of an athletic trainer or
physician, and resulted in the restriction
of participation one or more days beyond
the day of injury.
• Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)
sprains account for 0.6 percent
of all injuries.
Injury Prevention Tips‡
• The majority of injuries
(35.3 percent) caused three to
six days of time loss from
participation, while injuries
accounting for 21 or more days accounted for 12.1 percent
of all injuries.
For coaches:
• All on-court personnel should review, practice, and follow their venue emergency plan and
be trained in administering first aid, AED use, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
• Athletes with a concussion must be removed from practice or competition, and should
not return that day and not until given clearance by an approved medical provider
according to the institution’s concussion management plan.
• Regarding concussions, if in doubt, sit them out.
• Gradually increase the frequency, intensity and duration of training
to avoid overuse injuries.
• Balance cardiovascular, strength, flexibility and skills training.
• Be aware of potentially hazardous environmental conditions such as
excessively hot indoor facilities with no air conditioning.
• Consider neuromuscular training programs to prevent common ankle
and knee injuries.
For student-athletes:
• Have a preseason physical examination and follow your doctor’s recommendations.
• The most common activity at the
time of injury during competition was
general play (26.4 percent), followed
by digging (19.9 percent), spiking
(18.9 percent), blocking (18.8
percent) and passing (5.8 percent).
• The acute non-contact category was the
most common mechanism (39.1 percent) for all injuries, followed by gradual/
overuse (17.1 percent) and contact with a teammate (14.0 percent).
• Injuries were evenly spread
between warm-up (16.3 percent),
set 1 (17.8 percent), set 2 (18.6
percent) and set 3 (15.8 percent)
of competitions.
• Wear appropriate and properly fitted personal protective gear.
• Hydrate adequately — waiting until you are thirsty is too late to hydrate properly.
• Rest. Take some time away from training both during and between seasons to
avoid overuse injury and burnout.
• Consider using external ankle support, such as a brace or taping, to prevent
the ankle from rolling over, especially if you have had a prior sprain.
• After a period of inactivity, progress gradually back to volleyball through activities
such as aerobic conditioning, strength training and agility training.
• Avoid overuse injuries — more is not always better! Listen to your body
and decrease training time and intensity if pain or discomfort develops.
• Minimize the amount of jump training on hard surfaces.
• The majority of practicerelated injuries occurred
during team drills (60.0
percent), followed by
individual drills (10.0 percent) and conditioning
(6.4 percent).
• Participate in adequate and supervised rehabilitation for all injuries. Returning to a sport
prematurely is associated with a high risk of re-injury.
• Surgery resulted from 2.6 percent
of all injuries.
• Speak with a sports medicine professional or athletic trainer if you have any concerns
about injuries or volleyball injury prevention strategies.
Resources
Playing Rules and Safety
• The NCAA requires all players to have a preparticipation medical examination.
• The NCAA mandates institutions have a Concussion Management Plan.
• Referees will suspend the match because of a player injury.
NCAA Sports Medicine Handbook.
Available at www.NCAA.org.
NCAA Concussion Fact Sheets and
Vid­eo for Coaches and Student-Athletes.
Available at www.NCAA.org/health-safety.
• Medical personnel are allowed to remove a player(s) from the court for a serious injury,
bleeding, oozing injuries or blood on the uniform.
• An injured player may be replaced by a substitute.
• A player shall not wear anything that is dangerous to any player.
• A player may not wear jewelry of any type whatsoever unless it is for medical alert purposes.
• Play cannot be conducted on any surface that is wet, slippery or constructed of abrasive material.
• Casts are permissible if they are covered and the referee does not consider them dangerous.
• A soft bandage to cover a wound or protect an injury on the arms or hands is permissible.
‡
Injury Prevention
Tips are provided in
collaboration with
STOP Sports Injuries.
www.stopsportsinjuries.org
NCAA Sport Injury fact sheets are produced by the
Datalys Center for Sports Injury Research and Prevention
in collaboration with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and STOP Sports Injuries.
The Datalys Center manages the NCAA Injury Surveillance Program.
www.datalyscenter.org