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Research study

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For citation purposes: Owoeye OBA, Akinfeleye AM, Ogunkomaiya JA, Bojuwoye AO, Apatira Y. Musculoskeletal injuries among professional players of the Nigeria female basketball league: A need for intervention. OA Sports Medicine 2013 Feb 01;1(1):2. Co

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Musculoskeletal injuries among professional players of the Nigeria female basketball league: A need for intervention

OBA Owoeye1*, AM Akinfeleye2, JA Ogunkomaiya1, AO Bojuwoye3, Y Apatira1

AbstractIntroductionDespite the enormous growth in the game of basketball in Nigeria, there appears to be little attention on the player’s health even at the profes-sional level. Studies to justify the need for injury prevention and man-agement at the professional level are limited in Nigerian basketball. This study therefore sought to assess the pattern of musculoskeletal injuries in these players.Materials and methodsA retrospective cross-sectional sur-vey of all registered players of the Nigeria Female Basketball League was carried out at the end of the 2010–2011 league seasons. Informa-tion on any musculoskeletal injuries and time-loss injuries among others in the past 12 months was collected through a structured self-adminis-tered questionnaire. Data were ana-lysed using descriptive and inferen-tial statistics.ResultsA total of 108 injuries were sustained by 58 players (aged 18.2 ± 2.66 years) with a 12-month injury prevalence of 55.8%. The prevalence of time-loss injuries was 33.3%. The frequency of occurrence of injuries during matches and training did not differ significantly (P = 0.330). Sprains (34, 31.5%) and strains (21, 19.4%) were

the most common types of injuries, while head injuries (4, 3.70%) were the least common type of injuries. Injuries predominantly occurred in the lower limbs, with the knee (29, 27.0%) and ankle (26, 24.1%) having the highest prevalence. Point guards sustained more injuries than play-ers in other positions (14, 24.1%). The severity of time-loss injuries was mostly mild (20, 37.0%) and moder-ate (18, 33.3%).ConclusionThe prevalence of injury was con-siderably high among professional female basketball players in Nigeria and one out of three players suf-fered a time-loss injury during a league season. The pattern of injury was mostly consistent with previous reports on basketball injuries. This study suggests the need for further studies and appropriate injury pre-vention and management strategies among the players of the Nigeria Fe-male Basketball League.

IntroductionBasketball is one of the world’s most popular and widely viewed sports1. In Nigeria, it is the second most pop-ular sport after football2. It is widely played from the grass-root to the pro-fessional level. Despite the enormous growth in the game of basketball in Nigeria, there appears to be little at-tention in terms of player’s health even at the professional level.

The female basketball league in Nigeria is from March to November in three phases and in three dif-ferent regions of the country. The 2010–2011 league season just like the previous ones lasted for 30 days. Each phase ran for 10 days, with in-tervals between each phase. Five

matches were played each day, and all the teams were involved in all the matches each day of each phase. The three phases that spanned over a pe-riod of 8 months from March to No-vember were played in Akure, Abuja and Lagos respectively.

As a sport grows in the number of participants and intensity, so does the number of injuries3. Women’s sports, once dominated by a slow and defensive style, is now played with speed, precision and power; with these changes, increased injuries now occur4. Women’s basketball is a faster-paced game than it was several years ago5. Unfortunately, less atten-tion has been given to female players, especially when it comes to high-level participation, despite the increasing-ly engaging population in the sports6.

An important purpose of sports injury epidemiology is to supply knowledge on injuries that occur frequently and which have serious consequences, and to describe their aetiology in order to provide a basis for preventive measures7. However, such studies are globally limited on female basketball players. Thus, the conduction of epidemiological stud-ies has become critical for character-izing injuries in this sport8,9.

A number of such epidemiological studies have been conducted in the United States and other parts of the world on both male and female play-ers4–6,8–15. However, in Nigeria, de-spite increased participation in the sport and the importance of research in this area, only very few published studies directly relate to basketball injuries2,16,17, and no published stud-ies presently exist on professional female basketball players in Nigeria. Therefore, the purpose of this study

* Corresponding authorEmail: toyosialexowoeye@yahoo.com1 Department of Physiotherapy, College of

Medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria2 Department of Physiotherapy, Lagos Uni-

versity Teaching Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria3 Nigeria Olympic Committee, Medical and

Scientific Commission, National Stadium, Lagos, Nigeria

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Original research study

Licensee OA Publishing London 2013. Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY)

For citation purposes: Owoeye OBA, Akinfeleye AM, Ogunkomaiya JA, Bojuwoye AO, Apatira Y. Musculoskeletal injuries among professional players of the Nigeria female basketball league: A need for intervention. OA Sports Medicine 2013 Feb 01;1(1):2. Com

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common types, followed by bruise/contusion (15, 13.9%) and cramp (9, 8.33%) during matches and trainings; dislocation (7, 6.50%), laceration (7, 6.50%) and head in-jury (4, 3.70%) were the least types of injuries sustained during match-es and training (Table 1). There was no significant difference in the frequency of injury occurrence for the different types of injuries sus-tained during matches and training (P = 0.330).

Body parts injuredRegarding the anatomical region, injuries predominantly occurred in the lower limbs, with the knee (29, 27.0%) and ankle (26, 24.1%) hav-ing the highest prevalence. The third most common body part injured was the wrist/hand (12, 11.1%). The least injured body part was the abdo-men (2, 1.9%) (Table 2).

Injury distribution by playing positionPoint guards sustained more injuries than players in other positions (14, 24.1%), closely followed by shoot-ing guard (12, 20.7%) and power forward players (12, 20.7%). Small forward had the least number of in-juries (9, 15.5%) (Table 3).

For the purpose of analysis, players who sustained injury and could not continue with play during either training or matches between 1 and 3 days were classified as minimal, 4–7 days as mild, 8–28 days as moderate and above 28 days as severe18.

Data analysisData are summarized using descrip-tive statistics of frequency, percent-age, mean, standard deviation and inferential statistics of chi-square. Level of significance was accepted at P < 0.05.

ResultsOut of the 120 copies of the question-naires distributed, 104 copies were returned by the players (aged 18.2 ± 2.66 years; range 14–28 years), giv-ing a response rate of 86.7%. A total of 108 injuries were sustained by 58 players (each player sustained at least one or more injuries) in the past 12 months, giving an overall injury prevalence of 55.8%. Also, a total of 54 time-loss injuries were reported by 36 players; giving a time-loss prevalence of 33.3%.

Types of injuries sustainedSprains (34, 31.5%) and strains (21, 19.4%) were found to be the most

was to investigate the pattern of in-juries in female players of the Nigeria Basketball League.

Materials and methodsThis work conforms to the values laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki (1964). The protocol of this study has been approved by the relevant ethical committee related to our in-stitution in which it was performed. All subjects gave full informed con-sent to participate in this study.

This study was a retrospective cross-sectional survey that involved all the professional female basket-ball players who participated in the 2010–2011 league season. Data were collected at the end of the league sea-son after the third phase of the na-tional league held at the National Sta-dium indoor games, Surulere, Lagos State, in November 2011. The female basketball league for the 2010–2011 season had 10 teams, and each team registered 12 players for the league season. A total of 104 out of the 120 basketball players consented to par-ticipate in this study.

The questionnaires were distrib-uted to all participating players reg-istered for the 2010–2011 Nigeria Female Basketball League either di-rectly at the hotels where they were lodged or through their coaches who also helped in retrieving question-naires. All players and coaches were informed about the aim of the study and anonymity of the data before questionnaires were distributed.

The research instrument used for the study was an injury question-naire adapted from previous local studies on basketball injury2,16. The questionnaire had two sections: sec-tion A included demographic data of the players which include their age, height, weight, team, and playing po-sition; section B recorded the total number of injuries sustained during the 2010–2011 league season, time-loss injuries and period of absence from matches and training, type of in-jury/injuries and body parts injured.

Table 1 Injuries sustained and player’s exposureTypes of Injury Training Matches Total

n (%) n (%) n (%)Sprain 14 (31.1) 20 (31.7) 34 (31.5)Strain 9 (20.0) 12 (19.0) 21 (19.4)Laceration 2 (4.4) 5 (7.9) 7 (6.50)Dislocation 1 (2.2) 6 (9.5) 7 (6.50)Fracture 3 (6.7) 5 (7.9) 8 (7.40)Bruise/contusion 6 (13.3) 9 (14.3) 15 (13.9)Head injury/concussion 4 (8.9) 0 (0.0) 4 (3.70)Cramp 5 (11.1) 4 (6.3) 9 (8.3)Others 1 (2.2) 2 (3.2) 3 (2.78)Total 45 (100.0) 63 (100.0) 108 (100)X2 = 9.14, P = 0.330.

Page 3 of 4

Original research study

Licensee OA Publishing London 2013. Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY)

For citation purposes: Owoeye OBA, Akinfeleye AM, Ogunkomaiya JA, Bojuwoye AO, Apatira Y. Musculoskeletal injuries among professional players of the Nigeria female basketball league: A need for intervention. OA Sports Medicine 2013 Feb 01;1(1):2. Co

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the lower limb. This study found in-juries involving the knee joint to be the most prevalent. The complexity of the knee joint structure and the multidirectional forces imposed on the knee joint during sporting activi-ties may explain why knee injuries are often more severe than injuries to other body regions. Factors that could predispose players to injuries include anatomical differences in structure, lower limb biomechanical differences and hormonal factors10,19. Although injury aetiology relates primarily to sport-specific activity, female athletes are at higher risk of knee injury than their male counter-parts in jumping and cutting sports20.

Sprain and strain were the most documented types of injury in con-gruence with most other studies8–16, which showed that ligament sprain and muscle/tendon strain were the most frequent injury diagnosis. Re-garding injury prevalence and play-ers’ positions in the court, point guards had the highest prevalence. This could be because the point guard position is a very crucial one and usually the most active player on the basketball court. The point guard is the playmaker and one in charge of controlling and distribut-ing the ball and making sure that the right players get the ball at the right time1.

Epidemiological studies in all cate-gories and levels of basketball are re-quired to assess the pattern of injury and identify risk factors associated with playing basketball. This study is the first cohort study on female bas-ketball players in Nigeria, and thus its findings may provide a platform for preparing preventive measures in the population studied. However, a limitation of the present study is that players themselves retrospectively documented injuries. We recom-mend more studies, especially pro-spective studies, for an accumulation of data that will help proffer objec-tive measures of injury prevention in basketball.

studied reported time-loss injuries of which most were mild. One out of three players losing play time for training and matches raises an alarm for concern and a need for appropri-ate intervention. Since most previ-ous studies available currently did not assess injury severity, it becomes difficult comparing our results with others in order to determine the pe-culiarity of the problem.

Our study found the lower limbs to be the most commonly injured body region (73.4%); this finding is con-sistent with previous studies on bas-ketball injuries2,4–6,8–16. However, in terms of the most commonly injured anatomical region in basketball, there are some controversies in literature on whether the knee or the ankle is the most frequently injured part of

Severity of injuriesTime-loss injuries were mostly mild (20, 37.0%) and moderate (18, 33.3%), accounting for 4–7 days and 8–28 days off play respectively. There was no significant difference between the severity of injuries dur-ing training and matches (P = 0.781) (Table 4).

DiscussionThe growth and popularity in basket-ball participation in Nigeria creates an urgent need for injury surveil-lance to identify potential avenues for injury prevention. This study showed an injury prevalence of 55.8% among female players of the Nigeria Basketball League, which indicates a substantially high preva-lence of injury. A third of the players

Table 2 Body parts injuredBody Parts Injured Frequency (n) Percentage (%)Abdomen 2 1.9Knee 29 27.0Ankle 26 24.1Elbow 6 5.6Feet/toe 7 6.5Head/face 5 4.6Hip/groin 6 5.6Leg 8 7.4Shoulder 4 3.7Thigh 3 2.8Wrist/hand 12 11.1Total 108 100

Table 3 Distribution of injuries by playing positionsPlaying Position Frequency (n) Percentage (%)Point guard 14 24.1Shooting guard 12 20.7Small forward 9 15.5Centre 11 19.0Power forward 12 20.7Total 58 100.0

Page 4 of 4

Original research study

Licensee OA Publishing London 2013. Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY)

For citation purposes: Owoeye OBA, Akinfeleye AM, Ogunkomaiya JA, Bojuwoye AO, Apatira Y. Musculoskeletal injuries among professional players of the Nigeria female basketball league: A need for intervention. OA Sports Medicine 2013 Feb 01;1(1):2. Com

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11. Starkey C. Injuries and illnesses in the National Basketball Association: A 10-year perspective. J Athl Train. 2000 Apr–Jun;35(2):161–7.12. Anderson L, Triplett-McBride T, Fos-ter C, Doberstein S, Brice G. Impact of training patterns on incidence of illness and injury during a women’s collegiate basketball season. J Strength Cond Res. 2003 Nov;17(4):734–8.13. Deitch JR, Starkey C, Walter SL, Mose-ley JB. Injury risk in professional basket-ball players. A comparison of Women’s National Basketball Association and Na-tional Basketball Association Athletes. Am J Sports Med. 2006 Jul;34(7):1077–83.14. Da Silva AS, Abdalla RJ, Fisberg M. Incidence of musculoskeletal injuries in elite female basketball athletes. Acta Or-top Bras. 2007;15(1):43–46.15. Borowski LA, Yard EE, Fields SK, Com-stock RD. The epidemiology of US high school basketball injuries, 2005–2007. Am J Sports Med. 2008 Dec;36(12):2328–35.16. Akinbo S, Odebiyi D, Adebayo A. Pat-tern of musculoskeletal injuries in pro-fessional basketball league in Nigeria. Internet J Rheumatol. 2008;5(1):87–88.17. Azodo CC, Odai CD, Osawuwa-Peters Nosayaba, Obuekwe ON. A survey of oro-facial injuries among basketball players. Int Dent J. 2011 Feb;61(1):43–46.18. Junge A, Engebretsen L, Alonso JM, Ren-ström P, Mountjoy M, Aubry M, et al. Injury surveillance in multi-sport events – the In-ternational Olympic Committee approach. J Sports Med. 2008 Jun;42(6):413–21.19. Hewett TE. Neuromuscular and hor-monal factors associated with knee inju-ries in female athletes: Strategies for in-tervention. Sports Med. 2000 May;29(5): 313–27.20. Dugan SA. Sports related knee injury in female athletes. Am J Phys Med Reha-bil. 2005 Feb;84(2):122–30.

Table 4 Severity of injuries by exposureSeverity Training Matches Total

X2 Pn (%) n (%) n (%)

Minimal (1–3 days) 4 (20.8) 4 (11.8) 8 (14.8) 1.083 0.781Mild (4–7 days) 7 (33.3) 13 (38.2) 20 (37.0)Moderate (8–28 days) 7 (33.3) 11 (32.4) 18 (33.3)Severe (>28 days) 2(12.5) 6 (17.6) 8 (14.8)Total 20 (100.0) 34 (100.0) 54 (100.0)

ConclusionThe prevalence of injury was con-siderably high among professional female basketball players in Nigeria, and one out of three players suffered a time-loss injury during a league season. The pattern of injury was mostly consistent with previous re-ports on basketball injuries in the lit-erature. This study suggests the need for appropriate injury prevention and management strategies among the players of the Nigeria Female Bas-ketball League. Furthermore, there is a pertinent need for more stud-ies relating to injury surveillance in basketball.

References1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basket-ball (Accessed January 23, 2013).2. Owoeye OBA, Akodu AK, Oladokun B. Incidence and pattern of injuries among adolescent basketball players in Nigeria. Sports Med Arthrosc Rehabil Ther Technol. 2012 May;4(1):4–15.3. Zvijac K, Thompson W. Epidemiology of sport injuries. Am J Sports Med. 1996; 53:86–97.

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