Injuries in Olympic handball tournaments: a video analysis]

Introduction: The aim of the study was to achieve injury situations in European team handball with a video based method. Methods: Avideo tape containing 59 injuries of an Olympic handball tournament were analyzed by two observers (sports-scientist, orthopaedic surgeon). The analysis was based on a method previously published by Teitz, which was developed to analyze ACL-injuries. The parameters body region, field position, contact/ non-contact, offense/defense, field player/goal keeper were mainly used. Results: The most injuries were localized at the head (N = 20), the lower limb (N = 15), thorax and abdomen (N = 9) and the upper limb (N = 9). Concerning the field, the most injuries were in the midfield (N = 20), followed by the left (N = 13) and right (N = 9) outside position. The injured players were mostly in the offense (84%), and in the majority of cases the field players were affected (97%). 86% of the injuries accomplished by contact. Conclusion: The head has a high risk, predominantly of contact injury. Contact-injuries could only be reduced by strict decisions of the referees. Non-contact injuries should be prevented by a special coordinative training.