Injury prevalence of netball players in South Africa: The need for in jury prevention

Abstract

This study aimed to establish baseline data for injury prevalence,mechanism of injury, injury severity and management of injuries in netball playersin South Africa. A cross sectional descriptive design was employed to collect databy means of a questionnaire in 2010. Participants consisted of 254 netball playerswho participated in a netball tournament. Permission was obtained from all therelevant organizations and informed consent obtained from the participants. Thegeneral injury rate was 61.8% with an injury rate of 1.9 injuries per player forthe past season. The most commonly injured structures were the ankle 37.5 % andthe knee 28.6% with the most common mechanism of injury being landing, 19% and 29% respectively. Of those whosustained injuries, 86 (44%) of the injured athletes’ sustained severe injuries, 31(16%) sustained moderate injuriesand 78 (40%) sustained mild injuries. 67% of players reported they were able to continue with the game and 33%received medical assistance losing game and training time. The most common form of management accessed wasphysiotherapy, which accounted for 31%. It is evident that the ankle and knee injury rates amongst South Africannetball players are high in comparison to other netball playing nations. Injury surveillance is an integral part ofdeveloping preventative measures. The article lays a platform for developing these strategies against the backdrop ofits findings and comparison with other authors.