Injury prevention for young volleyball athletes

When volleyball was invented 115 years ago in Holyoke, Mass., it was meant to be less rough than basketball, another emerging indoor sport that started four years earlier at a nearby YMCA.

But as mintonette, as it was originally called, has grown in popularity—indoors and out, among men and women, professionals and amateurs, and more than 400,000 high school students today—it has also become nearly as perilous as hoops for traumatic and overuse injuries.

“Volleyball players jump, spike and block during their matches, making them prone to a number of overuse injuries in their ankles, knees, hands, shoulders and backs,” said Dr. James Andrews, leader of the STOP Sports Injuries campaign, (www.STOPSportsInjuries.org), a partnership of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) and a coalition of 20 other health and sport organizations.

“Ankle injuries are the No. 1 injury to volleyball players and are responsible for the most lost playing time,” Andrews said. “Fingers are also vulnerable to injury during blocking, setting and digging the ball during completion.”

A 2007 study by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) found that at the high school level, the highest percentage of injuries affect players’ ankles and feet (35.6%); hips, thighs or legs (16.2%); and forearms, wrists or hands (15.8%). In addition, experts say the most common injuries normally are sprains, which are instant injuries to muscles (48.6%); or strains, a traumatic injury to a ligament or joint that appears more gradually (25.5%).

The STOP Sports Injuries campaign is recommending that parents and coaches help prevent injuries by promoting proper warm-up, stretching and strengthening exercises, as well as paying close attention to the proper techniques, footwear, braces and pads to play volleyball safely.

“It’s important for parents and coaches to understand the power they have to prevent injuries before they occur,” Andrews said.

The STOP (for Sports Trauma and Overuse Prevention) Sports Injuries campaign—launched last spring by AOSSM and the group of other health-related organizations—aims to arm the public with information and tools to prevent, recognize and treat the long-term consequences of sports overuse and trauma injuries to young people. Led by Andrews, the renowned surgeon for America’s favorite sports superstars, the STOP Sports Injuries coalition members—major medical centers, doctors, trainers and youth sports coaches—have all pledged to advocate healthy play for young athletes in all sports.

The STOP Sports Injuries campaign has created educational materials and public service announcements, and plans to research trends in children’s sports injuries and recruit additional high-profile groups and individuals to spread its prevention message. Visit the campaign website at www.STOPSportsInjuries.org for more information about volleyball and other sports’ injuries, treatment and prevention.