Pattern of injury in handball and comparison of injured versus noninjured handball players.

A questionnaire was sent to 300 members (at random) of the Dutch Handball Association (response: 76%) (1) to study the injuries involved in handball and the resulting medical attention and (2) to compare injured versus non-injured players with respect to sex, age, somatotype, and sports participation. Group A was defined as players taking part in handball only (62%); 38% also regularly took part in other sports (group B). The male/female ratio in group B was approximately 4 times larger than in group A. The results showed that 51% of all players sustained at least one injury during handball in 1 year. The ratio of injuries/all players in our study did not differ much from the level in a comparable Danish study, 0.82 and 0.71, respectively. Nearly 60% of all handball injuries were localized in the lower compared with only 30% in the upper extremities. A general practitioner was consulted in nearly 40% of the injuries. Within group A, relatively more males were injured and also more frequently compared with females. Injuries in females did not differ from all injuries with respect to localization and medical attention. After comparison of injured versus noninjured players, we conclude that the role of somatotype is not elucidated and that sex and the number of sports might play an important role in the etiology of handball injuries, whereas age is only of minor importance.