Ankle, knee and concussion concerns: Unveiling injury patterns in highly trained South African netball players

Objectives

To describe the rate and type of netball injuries sustained during women's university-level tournament matches in South Africa.

Design

Descriptive epidemiological study.

Setting

Three editions of the women's Varsity Netball tournament (2021–23).

Participants

Student-athletes representing nine university women's teams.

Main outcome measures

Medical attention match injuries prospectively recorded by team medical staff. Injuries were classified according to the 2020 consensus statement, with the addition of “concussion” as a separate pathology type. The main outcomes are reported as incidence (injuries per 1000h; 95% confidence intervals - CIs), burden (days lost per 1000h; 95%CIs), and frequency (% of all injuries).

Results

Sixty-three injuries were recorded from 48 different players (58.8 per 1000h; 45.2–75.3) and the overall injury burden was 401 days per 1000h (364–440). Injury incidence by pathology type was highest for joint sprains (28.9 per 1000h), tendinopathies (7.5 per 1000h), and concussions (4.7 per 1000h). Joint sprains to the ankle accounted for 49% of the overall estimated days lost.

Conclusions

Ankle joint sprains should be the primary target of injury risk reduction programmes in highly trained netball players. Concussions were reported and efforts should be made to increase awareness among players, coaches and medical staff.