Prospective epidemiological study of basketball injuries during one competitive season in professional and amateur Spanish basketball

Introduction: There are few Spanish epidemiological studies of basketball injuries, even though it is the second most played sport and the leading sport played by females in Spain. Population: We studied 117 male and female basketball players from ten amateur or professional teams from four leagues in the 2014-2015 season. Results: There were 11.6 injuries per 1,000 hours of sporting activity, 9.6 injuries per 1,000 hours of training and 47.3 injuries per 1,000 hours of competition. The rate of injuries requiring downtime was 2.99 per 1,000 hours of training, 41.7 per 1,000 hours of competition and 4.1 per 1,000 hours of sporting activity overall. No significant differences were found in the incidence of injuries between leagues, but a higher incidence by season was found in teams participating in international competitions, due to the increased competition time. The ankle was the main site of injuries causing >= 8 days of downtime and knee injuries the site of those causing >= 29 days of downtime. The most frequent injuries were sprains, bruises, and muscle overloads and 63.8% of players had >= 1 potentially-recurring injury. The most prevalent injuries were ankle sprains (50%), thigh muscle injuries (12.2%) and knee tendinitis (7.4%). The only significant predisposing factor for injury was recurrent injury (adjusted OR 1.93, 95% CI 1.029-3.62). Age, sex, height, weight, position, body mass index, and professional/amateur competition were not significantly associated with the number of injuries or >= 7 days downtime in the multivariate analysis. Conclusion: Preventive measures should be applied to the team as a whole at an early age, since recurrent injuries only explained a small percentage of the total injuries.

Automated summary

The study found a high rate of injuries in basketball players, with ankle and knee injuries being the most common. Recurrent injuries were the main contributing factor. Preventive measures should be implemented at an early age for the whole team.