Injury pattern during team handball competition in east Africa

Team handball is a fast, explosive sport, and injury risk is inevitable. There is need to define the risk factors in order to formulate preventive, treatment and rehabilitation measures. This study investigated the nature, aetiology, mechanism and anatomical localisation of injuries observed among male and female players during the tenth edition of the East and Central Africa Senior Clubs Championships (9th-17th April, 1995) in Nairobi, Kenya. There were nine male and five female teams from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia which played nineteen and ten matches respectively leading to 52(77.61%) and 15(22.39%) injuries. The matches were observed and the injuries recorded live by trained researchers and the result confirmed after the match. The commonest injuries were contusions (64.18%). Most injuries were caused by another person (85.07%), majority of them occurring due to collision (55.22%). The head suffered most injuries (59.24%) and many players got more injured while attacking than defending. In all, 56.7% of the injuries were observed in the second half. Generally, only 38.81% of the injuries led to a substitution of player. This pattern of injuries was the same for both male and female players. More studies of this nature are recommended in order to clearly define injury risk in team handball and, thus, preventive, treatment and rehabilitation measures.