Injury has a lower incidence but higher burden than illness in elite South African netball players: A prospective cohort study

Background: Netball poses significant injury risks with explosive movements and restricted court areas. Team sports with frequent contact predispose players to illness. Objectives: Over six months, the period prevalence, incidence, clinical characteristics, and severity of injuries and illnesses in elite South African (SA) netball players were investigated. Methods: A six-month prospective cohort study followed 24 elite female national team players (age 25.7±4.8 years). Injury and illness data were self-reported via a two-weekly online survey. Main outcome variables included period prevalence (PP, %), incidence (I; injury/1000 player-hours; illness/1000 player-days), severity (time-loss in days), injury burden (InjB; days lost/1000 player exposure-hours) and illness burden (IllB; days lost/1000 player exposure-days). Results: In total, 26 injuries were reported (PP=9%; I=5.4). Lower limb injuries (83%), specifically the knee (44%), involving joint sprains/ligament tears (28%), mainly occurred. Most injuries (55%) were sustained during match play (56%) and due to player contact (39%). Goal defenders suffered most injuries (22%). Injuries resulted in mild time-loss (1–7 days), with an InjB of 3.5 days lost/1000 player exposure-hours. In total 33 illnesses were reported (PP=11%, I=6.9), mainly involving the upper respiratory tract (85%). Illness severity was mostly minimal, with no time-loss (52%), resulting in an IllB of 17.3 days lost/1000 player exposure-days. Conclusion: This study provides important descriptive injury and illness information in elite netball players. InjB translates to 14.9 days lost, and IllB to 3.1 days lost during the six months. Player contact is a major cause of injury. Lower limb injuries, contact prevention and upper respiratory tract illnesses should receive attention in preventative strategies. More injury and illness data in elite netball is needed.