Adolescent tennis players' injury profile and awareness level of sports injury
Mekki Abdioğlu1
, Melek Güler2, Ahmet Mor3, Gülcan Harput4
1Faculty of Sports Science, Ankara University, Ankara, Türkiye
2Department of Physical Education and Sports Teaching, Faculty of Sports Science, Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey University, Karaman, Türkiye
3Sports Health Division, Department of Coaching Education, Faculty of Sports Science, Sinop University, Sinop, Türkiye
4Faculty of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Türkiye
Keywords: Adolescent, tennis, injury, survey
Abstract
Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between injury risk profile and injury awareness, as well as the level of injury knowledge and the incidence of injuries among adolescent tennis players.
Material and Methods: One hundred seventy-nine adolescent tennis players (n: 98 females and 81 males, age: 13.9±1.6 years), who had a history of at least one sports injury were included in the study. A questionnaire was designed by sport experts that questioned about the tennis injuries and awareness of tennis injuries.
Results: The most injured area was the shoulder (22%). It was followed by elbow (19%), ankle (17%), wrist (16%), and the knee (12%). Experiencing more sport injuries (more than twice) increased 5.7 times (p<0.01) if they had medium knowledge level, and increased 22.4 times if they had low knowledge level (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Upper extremity injuries are more common in adolescent tennis players comparing with lower extremity injuries. In addition, the number of previous tennis injuries was related to training load and the athletes' awareness of tennis injuries. Therefore, optimizing tennis training load and increasing the level of injury awareness in adolescent tennis players may be important in preventing future sports injuries.
Cite this article as: Abdioglu M, Guler M, Mor A, Harput G. Adolescent tennis players' injury profile and awareness level of sports injury. Turk J Sports Med. 2023; 58(3):133- 8; https://doi.org/10.47447/tjsm.0759
The approval for this study was obtained from Sinop University Ethics Committee (Decision no: no: 2021/115, Date: 27.09.2021).
Concept - All authors; Design - All authors; Materials - GH, MA, AM; Data Collection/or Processing - MG, AM, MA; Analysis and Interpreting - GH, MG; Literature Review - All authors; Writing Manuscript - GH, MA; Critical Reviews - GH.
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to authorship and/or publication of the article.
The authors received no financial support for the research and/or publication of this article.
The authors would like to thank all individuals who participated in this study.
