Loads, Injuries and Illnesses Among Elite Handball Players (PPDC-2022)

Effects of Physical, Psychosocial and Dual-career Loads on Injuries and Illnesses Among Elite Handball Players

Primary goal of the research is to determine whether injury/illness occurrence is influenced by the academic, training and competition loads, as well as the overall load (sum of academic/work, training and competition loads) in elite handball athletes To examine whether subjective measures of perceived overall stress correlate with objectively measured levels of stress.

Determine the benefits of certain biomarkers to monitor stress, load and injury/illness occurrence in athletes.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Athletic Injuries; Injuries; Psychological; Physical Stress; Physical Trauma; Social Stress; Physical Injury; Physical Illness; Illness, Chronic; Illnesses Systemic; Illnesses, Occupational
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: There is no intervention

Detailed Description

The current structure and organizational initiatives do not meet the needs of athletes as they face different challenges throughout their careers. There is a need for better health surveillance, load monitoring and support services with a focus on injury/illnesses prevention and rehabilitation. The main goal of the research is to determine how specific loads affect the occurrence of injuries and illnesses in elite handball players and how much of the total load an athlete can withstand before an injury/illness occurs. Thus, the study will attempt to identify athletes at risk of injury/illness by monitoring their workload with subjective (perceived stress) and objective (biomarkers, hours of workload) measurements. One of the goals is also to determine the correlation between objective measures of stress (biomarkers) and subjective measures of stress (athlete's stress assessment). The results will not only be important for the medical and sports community for development of new injury prevention and rehabilitation strategies, but also for structuring the correct policy recommendations for athletes' general health. The research will be carried out on approx. 250 elite handball players (the entire 1st men's handball league) during one handball season. In addition to other parameters (monitoring of load, injuries and illnesses), blood samples will be taken from athletes at five time points according to their training cycle.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 189

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Kristina Drole, MSc; Phone Number: 0038641783071; Email: Kristina.Drole@fsp.uni-lj.si

Study Locations

• Slovenia
  • Ljubljana, Slovenia, 1000
    • Faculty of Sport
  • Ljubljana, Slovenia, 1000
    • Handball Clubs

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

The first league handball players

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• At least national-level handball players above 18 years of age, who are in a dual-career setting.
• Handball players older than 18 years old, who are competing at least at national level and are not in a dual-career setting will be matched by their demographic characteristics and included in the control group.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Not fulfilling inclusion critieria

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
Handball players; Professional handball players	Other: There is no intervention; There is no any intervention

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
The Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center Questionnaire on Health Problems (OSTRC)	Injury and illness questionnaire	12 months
Load	PHYSICAL, PSYCHOSOCIAL AND DUAL-CAREER loads	12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Biomarkers	testosterone, cortisol, Immunoglobulin A (IgA)	12 months
Life Events Survey for Collegiate Athletes (LESCA) questionnaire	Life Events Survey for Collegiate Athletes questionnaire	12 months

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Body composition	Body composition measurements with bio-impedance	12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Ljubljana
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Kristina Drole, MSc, Faculty of Sport, University of Ljubljana

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Drole K, Paravlic A, Steffen K, Doupona M. Effects of physical, psychosocial and dual-career loads on injuries and illnesses among elite handball players: protocol of prospective cohort study. BMJ Open. 2023 Mar 2;13(3):e069104. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-069104.

Helpful Links

• Link to a study protocol

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 20, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 4, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): September 1, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 17, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 20, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): July 22, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 1, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 28, 2024
• Last Verified: March 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Disease Attributes; Wounds and Injuries; Chronic Disease; Athletic Injuries; Occupational Diseases
• Other Study ID Numbers: PPDC-2022

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED
• IPD Plan Description: Data will be available upon the reasonable request to principal investigator

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No