Australian netball injuries in 2016: An overview of insurance data

The objective of this study is to profile the netball-specific sporting injuries from in a national community-level insurance claim database.

An audit of insurance injury claims.

An electronic dataset containing successful injury insurance claim data from the 2016 netball season was retrospectively coded. Data were de-identified and coded to meet the Orchard Sports Injury Classification System. Descriptive data reported included age, injury date, activity type, anatomical injury location, nature of injury, weather conditions, indoor/outdoor surface, quarter injury occurred, and open text for injury description.

The dataset contained 1239 claims that were approved for payment by the insurance company. The overall incidence rate was 2.936 successful injury claims per 1000 participants. The average age of players with claims was 34years. The majority of successful claims came from players aged 22 to 29years (n=328; 27%) and 30-39years (n=279; 23%) age groups. Of the successful claims for injury, most occurred during matches (n=1116; 92%), and were for injuries to the knee (n=509; 42%) and ankle (n=356; 29%) and for sprains/ligament damage (n=687; 57%) or fractures (n=182; 15%).

Netball injuries profiled by an injury insurance dataset of successful claims mostly occurred to the knee and ankle. Sprains and ligament damage were the most common type of injury. This study strengthens the evidence for national injury prevention policies and strategies. Findings from the current study could be used in future to expand into mechanisms of injury, and injury diagnoses.