Injury Epidemiology and Current Injury Prevention Approaches in Volleyball – A Narrative Review
Makaleler > Derleme · 2026
Yazarlar: Fatih Eren OLUÇ, Tamer, İrem, Koçak, Umut Ziya
Clinical Physiotherapy and Related Research, Vol. 2 No. 1, Uluslararası, 2026
Özet
Volleyball is a popular sport worldwide and is associated with a considerable risk of injury affecting both upper and lower extremities, highlighting the importance of effective injury prevention strategies. The aim of this narrative review was to summarize the existing evidence on injury epidemiology and injury prevention in volleyball players. A literature search was conducted in the PubMed and Embase databases. The available evidence indicates that injury incidence ranges from 1.24 to 10.7 injuries per 1,000 hours of exposure in volleyball players, with ankle, knee, shoulder, and hand/finger being the most frequently injured body regions. However, the majority of epidemiological studies provide low levels of evidence, relying primarily on time-loss injury registries and player-reported injury data. Although systematically developed injury prevention programs, such as VolleyVeilig, have reported promising results in reducing injuries among volleyball players, the existing evidence remains limited by the small number of available studies and methodological constraints. Researchers should focus on conducting large-scale, methodologically robust trials evaluating clinical injury outcomes to advance the volleyball injury prevention literature.