Epidemiology of injuries during Iran wheelchair basketball professional league: predictive risk factors and prevention strategies.

Background: Very few studies have investigated athletes with disabilities during a long period of competitions, such as a professional league. Also, there are limited findings related to specific mechanisms and risk factors of injury, and prevention strategies in Wheelchair Basketball. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the rate and characteristics of injuries in the 2021-2022 Iran Wheelchair Basketball League and present prevention strategies.

Methods: This retrospective study was conducted after the 2021-2022 (Mar 2021-Sep 2022) competition season. The sample size consists of 36 players, who were randomly selected among 129 players. All the data was processed using SPSS (version 21).

Results: 111 injuries were registered, equivalent to 132 per 100 players (95% CI: 100-180) and 8.16 Injuries per 1000 hours of athlete exposure (6.2-9.8). Also, 77.8% occurred during training and 22.2% in competitions. Most injuries affected the fingers and hands (35.13%), and shoulders (22.57%). The most common types of injuries were contusions (30.63%), laceration and skin lesion (23.42%), and muscle spasms (13.51%), in which, half of the injuries were slight (0-1 days), 27.8% (mild 4-7 days), and 22.2% moderate (8-28 days). Also, 66.9% of injuries were new, and 33.1% were recurrent. Most situations and actions leading to injury include quick wheelchair pushing (29.72%), the intense ball hitting (17.14%), and sudden stops or changes of direction of the wheelchair (12.63%). A multiple linear regression analysis (Enter method) demonstrated (R2 Adjusted=0.530) Wheelchair inappropriateness (P=0.015), lack of protective equipment (P=0.028), and previous injury (P=0.003) explained close to 55% of the injury rate.

Conclusions: The injury rate during the league period was higher than the amounts reported from Paralympic games. Prevention strategies should be focused on rethinking athletes' pre-season readiness evaluation, return to play assessments and protection equipment technologies.