The causes and prevention of injuries in handball

The aim of this work is to present and analyse the handball literature on the causes of injuries, types of injuries and their anatomic locations, as well as the prevention measurements. Based on the results of the analysed studies, it can be concluded that there is a significant number of injuries, of different body parts and of different severity in top-level handball players. Overuse injuries (to certain body parts, such as the more dominant shoulder, the ankle and the knee) are considered to be most prominent. In order to prevent the injuries to the mouth and teeth, the use of mouthguard is recommended. When it comes to the prevention and rehabilitation of shoulder injuries, the research results have shown positive effects that the training aiming at the increase of the inner rotation of the glenohumeral strength, the outer rotation strength and the scapular muscles strength has along with the exercises for improving the kinetic chain and the chest flexibility. The use of elastic bands and the medicine ball has proven efficient in increasing the shoulder area strength, and the whole swing and throw movement. The ankle and the knee are the most frequently injured joints among female handball players. The results of the application of the neuromuscular training, the proprioception and the balance exercises, combined with some specific players’ activities (running, jumping and planting) show that such training process is efficient in the prevention of injuries to ankle and knee joints.