Prevalence and characteristics of overuse injuries in female college soccer and volleyball players: a pilot study

Introduction. Insufficient understanding of overuse injuries in female collegiate soccer and volleyball players hampers prevention programs in women’s sports. Aim of Study. This pilot study aims to investigate prevalence and severity of overuse injuries, and to examine an impact of age, playing position, training duration, and weekly training time on the prevalence and severity of overuse injuries among female collegiate athletes from volleyball and soccer teams. The study has potential to identify at-risk players and lay a foundation for future injury prevention programs in women’s soccer and volleyball. Material and Methods. Data on overuse injuries in a knee, lower back, shoulder, and anterior thigh of 45 participating highly trained/ national level female university athletes, including 19 soccer (mean age 20.98 ± 1.35 years) and 26 volleyball players (mean age 20.89 ± 1.66 years) were collected weekly for four weeks, using a questionnaire from the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center. Results. A total of 80% (95% CI, 68.9 to 91.1) of female athletes had overuse injuries, with significant problems in 31.1% (95% CI, 17.8 to 44.4) of cases. Knee injuries were most prevalent (55.6%), followed by lower back (42.2%), shoulder (35.6%), and anterior thigh injuries (22.2%). In soccer, players under the age of 20 training over 10 hours/week had more injuries, with defenders experiencing more lower back pain and forwards having more lower extremity issues. Experienced volleyball players (over 10 years of playing) with over 18 hours/week of training had a higher incidence of injuries. Weekly training hours significantly influenced injury frequency in female volleyball players (χ²(3) = 7.97, p = 0.047). Conclusions. Sport-specific factors like age, experience, and training volume were identified as risk factors for knee and hip injuries in the female soccer players, as well as knee, lower back, and shoulder injuries in the female volleyball players. These findings emphasize importance of considering these factors in designing injury prevention programs for female soccer and volleyball players.