An analysis of the sports injuries occurred in competitions in Men’s Volleyball League during five year period (2011-2016)

Abstract

In order to prevent injuries, reasons and risk factors should be known before injuries occur. In this context, the main purpose of this study was to investigate sports injuries that have occurred in matches in the First Turkish Men’s Volleyball League during the period between 2011 and 2016.

In this study, 250 matches played in the Turkish Men’s Volleyball League during the period between 2011 and 2016 have been analyzed. “A Sports Injuries Observation Form” developed by the researcher was used in the study. This form contains different variables related to sports injuries such as “number of injury”, “injury sites of body”, “severity of injury”, “techniques-related injury”, “injury reason” and “match duration”. In addition to the researcher, two independent expert observers in volleyball have analyzed the match recordings and filled out the forms. All forms were crosschecked closely. The matches analyzed included 121.680 player hours defined as active playing time. Descriptive statistics were calculated for the variables such as mean, standard deviation, percentage and frequency. The Pearson coefficient was used to measure correlations between match durations and total number of injuries, number of temporary injuries, and number of serious injuries.

In these matches, 83 injuries have occurred. However, 68.67% (57) of all injuries were temporary injuries where players continued to the play following the minor treatment and where 31.33% (26) were serious injuries which hindered players and were not able to continue to the play. In this context, there were 0.33 injuries per match. Upper extremity injury rate was 61.45% (51) whereas the lower extremity injury rate was 38.55% (32). While “block” was the most dangerous technique of the play with 65.06% (54) injury rate, “spike”, defense and other techniques had a slightly lower risk rate of 14.46% (12) and 20.48% (17), respectively. In other words, 79.51% (66) of the injuries occurred in front of the net where block and spike techniques were repeatedly performed.

In conclusion, injury risk was remarkable in volleyball. Especially, the players playing in the front area were at greater risk than back area players. Correct jumping and landing practices may reduce the injury risks. It has been suggested that there is relationship between injuries and the game rules related to net contact and middle line.  Future studies should address the relationship between injuries and official game rules.