Loads, Injuries and Illnesses Among Elite Handball Players

Completed

• Conditions: Injuries; Illness, Chronic; Physical Illness; Social Stress; Illnesses Systemic; Psychological; Physical Trauma; Illnesses, Occupational; Physical Injury; Physical Stress
• Interventions: Other: There is no intervention

• Registration Number: NCT05471297
• Lead Sponsor: University of Ljubljana

Brief Summary

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.

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 Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2022-07-17
• Study Start: 2022-07-20
• Study First Submitted QC: 2022-07-20
• Study First Posted: 2022-07-22
• Primary Completion: 2023-06-04
• Study Completion: 2023-09-01
• Status Verified: 2024-11
• Last Update Submitted: 2024-11-14
• Last Update Posted: 2024-11-18

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: Male
• Target Recruitment: 189

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 & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Handball players	There is no intervention	Professional handball players

Primary Outcome Measures

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

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Biomarkers	12 months	testosterone, cortisol, Immunoglobulin A (IgA)
Life Events Survey for Collegiate Athletes (LESCA) questionnaire	12 months	Life Events Survey for Collegiate Athletes questionnaire

Trial Locations

Locations (2)

Faculty of Sport; 🇸🇮 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Handball Clubs; 🇸🇮 Ljubljana, Slovenia