(Name of author)
Relevance of the Topic
Basketball is one of the most dangerous team sports in the world with over 1.6 million basketball-related injuries reported every year and over three acute injuries occurring in every 1000 hours of basketball exposure (Luig and Henke, 2011). Most people including basketball players and coaches do not know these facts because excessive contact and aggressiveness are prohibited in the sport.
Basketball’s popularity is growing in most parts of the world. It is estimated that over 300 million people worldwide play the sport because of its simplicity and minimal requirements. As the popularity of the sport grows, the number of players will also grow. This will create numerous opportunities for people with knowledge and expertise in the field of sport and exercise science like me to work as trainers of the basketball players. To become an efficient trainer requires knowing all the potential risks an athlete is exposed to and the ways to prevent them.
There are many factors that contribute to injury risks in basketball players. Basketball involves a lot of dynamic movements that includes; lateral movements, sprinting, quick stops, pivoting, sudden change of direction, and jumping. Also, basketball is played on hardwood floors with more than average sized players. The players scramble for the ball in small spaces, and sometimes intensive body contact is involved. This leads to many injuries with most of them occurring to the ankle joints when a player jumps and lands on another player’s foot.
The audiences of the article are mainly trainers, coaches, and players in national basketball associations all across the world. This is because injuries happen in both competitive games and training sessions, although twice as many injuries occur during matches as during practice. Most of these injuries can be prevented through proper conditioning and changing the training patterns. Most coaches and trainers are now aware of this fact and have put in quite an effort in adjusting their training plans to include injury prevention measures. However, most players especially the ones who are new to the sport are not conversant with this issue and carry on with their previous training protocols. This will lead to an increase in the number of injuries associated with the sport.
Injury Characteristics
There are two types of sports injuries that nay occur to an athlete, these are; acute and chronic injuries. Acute injuries occur due to a particular identifiable incidence while chronic injuries happen because of consecutive micro-traumas without any specific identifiable occurrence being responsible for the injury. Although adults spend more time training than playing in competitive games, only 50% of their injuries occur in the practice sessions compared to 67% in young players (Luig and Henke, 2011). There is no sufficient evidence at this time to differentiate between injury rates in recreational and professional athletes.
Female basketball players are more vulnerable to suffer from injuries than male athletes. A study showed that WNBA players reported more injuries than NBA players in both training sessions and official matches. Research that included basketball athletes between the ages of 14 years to 45 years, of both genders, and different participation levels showed that most basketball injuries affect the lower limbs with ankle sprains being the most common injury. Of all acute injuries that affected male athletes, ankle injuries were leading at 32.6%, followed by knee injuries at 19.1%, hand at 15.4% and head at 17.4%. In female athletes, acute ankle injuries also lead at 32.6%, knee at 27.8%, hand at 16.3% and head at 14.0% (Luig and Henke, 2011). Female athletes suffer from more non-contact knee injuries than their male counterparts because they have less muscle fitness, lack neuromuscular control and more joint laxity. The most common chronic injury is the jumper’s knee that occurs as a result of anterior knee pain or patellar inflammation.
Circumstances that Result to Injury
More than half of all acute injuries happen during contact with other players and rebounding the ball. Injury to the ankle joints mostly occurs in the paint when a player jumps and land on another player’s foot. Centers operate mostly in the paint and grab most of the rebounds. Because of this reason, centers are at a higher risk of getting injured compared to the other basketball players who operate mainly outside the paint area.
Anterior cruciate ligaments (ACL) mostly happen in events that do not involve immediate contact. These events may include running, sudden change of direction, quick starts and stops, cutting and landing on one leg. Most of these non-contact injuries are initiated by some little contact shortly before the injury. Research has shown that even the smallest contact when pivoting or jumping may cause an athlete to lose body stability increasing the chances of injury.
Prevention Approaches
Considering all the risk factors, coaches and trainers should train players on how to safely manage contact situations. Athletes’ performance, especially in jumping, landing, quickness and body control, should be enhanced to improve the fitness level of the player and prevent injuries. This can be done though athletic training like strengthening of muscles and body stabilization. Trainers of basketball players should design their training programs to ensure they meet the athletic performance requirements of the players.
Training and Physical Preparation
All basketball players should undergo a functional movement screening test to identify muscular imbalance and neuromuscular deficits. This will help detect an athlete’s potential injury risks and determine the needs of individual athletes to enhance their physical performance used in developing a training program.
Athletes in bad physical shape are more prone to acute injuries and may develop chronic overuse injuries. Well-designed athletic conditioning programs tailored for individual athletes should be developed and supervised. The programs should comprise of endurance and functional weight training, and flexibility and agility drills.
Warm-up routines should be mandatory before any basketball related sessions. It should include basic running, neuromuscular activity, balance, and core stabilization drills. Sport specific plyometrics and agility drills should be included at every the end of every warm-up. These warm-up routines can help in improving knee and ankle control during basketball movements and prevent lower limb injuries in basketball players.
A good training program should include 10 to 20 minutes warm-up, stretching, muscle strengthening exercises, sport specific plyometrics, agility exercises, and cool down. This will significantly improve strength, flexibility, speed and biomechanical aspects that are related to injuries. It is also recommended that female basketball players participate in pre-season progressive lower limb weight resistance training to help prevent knee injuries.
Bibliography
Luig, P. and Henke, T. (2011) Inventory of the Burden of Basketball Injuries, Existing Prevention Measures and Safety Promotion Strategies. Available at: https://www.sicherheitimsport.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Fact_sheet_Basketball.pdf (Accessed: 20 April 2016).
