Loads, Injuries and Illnesses Among Elite Handball Players

Psychological Clinical Trial

— PPDC-2022  

Official title:

Effects of Physical, Psychosocial and Dual-career Loads on Injuries and Illnesses Among Elite Handball Players

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT05471297
• Other study ID #: PPDC-2022
• Status: Completed
• Start date: July 20, 2022
• Est. completion date: September 1, 2023

Study information

• Verified date: March 2024
• Source: University of Ljubljana
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Observational

Clinical Trial 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.

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.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 189
• Est. completion date: September 1, 2023
• Est. primary completion date: June 4, 2023
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: Male
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

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

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Athletic Injuries
• Chronic Disease
• Illness, Chronic
• Injuries
• Occupational Diseases
• Physical Illness
• Physical Injury
• Physical Stress
• Physical Trauma
• Psychological
• Social Stress
• Wounds and Injuries

Intervention

Other:
• There is no intervention
There is no any intervention

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Slovenia	Faculty of Sport	Ljubljana
Slovenia	Handball Clubs	Ljubljana

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Ljubljana

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Slovenia, 

References & Publications (1)

Drole K, Paravlic A, Steffen K, Doupona M. Effects of physical, psychosocial and dual-career loads on injuries and illnesses among elite handball players: protocol of prospective cohort study. BMJ Open. 2023 Mar 2;13(3):e069104. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-069104. — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Other	Body composition	Body composition measurements with bio-impedance	12 months
Primary	The Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center Questionnaire on Health Problems (OSTRC)	Injury and illness questionnaire	12 months
Primary	Load	PHYSICAL, PSYCHOSOCIAL AND DUAL-CAREER loads	12 months
Secondary	Biomarkers	testosterone, cortisol, Immunoglobulin A (IgA)	12 months
Secondary	Life Events Survey for Collegiate Athletes (LESCA) questionnaire	Life Events Survey for Collegiate Athletes questionnaire	12 months

External Links

•   Link to a study protocol