Preventing injuries among recreational adult volleyball players: Results of a prospective randomised controlled trial

Vincent Gouttebarge, Saulo Delfino Barboza, Johannes Zwerver, Evert Verhagen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of an exercise-based warm-up programme (“VolleyVeilig”) on the one-season occurrence of musculoskeletal injuries among recreational adult volleyball players. A prospective randomised controlled trial was conducted over the 2017–2018 volleyball season. Recreational adult volleyball players were allocated either to an intervention or control group. The Dutch version of the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Centre questionnaire was used to register and monitor acute and overuse injuries. A total of 672 volleyball players were enrolled: 348 in the intervention group (mean age: 30) and 324 in the control group (mean age: 27). The incidence rate of acute injury was 21% lower in the intervention group, namely 8.9 versus 11.3 per 1,000 h in the control group (Cox mixed effects crude model: hazard ratio = 0.82 [95%CI: 0.69–0.98]; Cox mixed effects adjusted model: 0.85 [95%CI: 0.71–1.02]). No significant difference in mean prevalence of overuse injury was found between the intervention (4.8%) and control (4.2%) groups. The severity of injuries was not significantly different between groups, while injury burden was slightly lower in the intervention group. The exercise-based warm-up programme led to a trend in less acute injuries among recreational adult volleyball players.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)612-618
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of sports sciences
Volume38
Issue number6
Early online date2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 18 Mar 2020

Keywords

  • Volleyball
  • musculoskeletal injuries
  • prevention
  • prospective controlled trial

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