Injury Rate in Beach Handball – Comparison Between Two Tournaments of the European Beach Tour (EBT)

Abstract

Beach handball is a team sport, similar to team handball, played on sand. Despite the growing popularity of the sport, there is a lack of scientific studies on injuries in beach handball. The aim of the present study, was to compare the findings from two tournaments of European Beach Tour (EBT), in order to identify injury rates and patterns in this sport. One hundred and twenty-two athletes (50 men and 72 women) in 2014 and 121 athletes (60 men and 61 women) in 2016 replied to a self-reported anonymous questionnaire concerning their injuries while playing beach handball. The overall incidence was 9.7 injuries/1000h of game exposure, and 3.1 injuries/1000h of training. Injuries occurred more often during games (63.6%). Ligament injuries were the most common type of injuries (45.2%), followed by muscle injuries (36.5%). Most injuries occurred in the lower limb (51.5%), while 37.9% occurred in the upper limb. Collision with the opponent was the most common mechanism of injury (44.8%). Female athletes had a higher probability of injuries of small severity (0-1 weeks RtP) than male athletes . Comparison between the two competitions revealed an overall decrease in the injury rate in a statistically significant degree in both genders ( for males, for females). Larger epidemiologic studies will provide us with further information on the injury characteristics of beach handball.