Clinical trial NCT05471297: Loads, Injuries and Illnesses Among Elite Handball Players
Official title: Effects of Physical, Psychosocial and Dual-career Loads on Injuries and Illnesses Among Elite Handball Players
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Injuries
Illnesses Systemic
Illness, Chronic
Illnesses, Occupational
Psychological
Physical Illness
Physical Stress
Physical Injury
Physical Trauma
Social Stress
Athletic Injuries
Lead sponsor: University of Ljubljana
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2022-07-22
Enrollment: 189
Sex: MALE
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: PROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: The first league handball players

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.

Eligibility criteria: 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

Primary outcomes:
measure: The Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center Questionnaire on Health Problems (OSTRC)
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: Load
timeFrame: 12 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Biomarkers
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: Life Events Survey for Collegiate Athletes (LESCA) questionnaire
timeFrame: 12 months
Other outcomes:
measure: Body composition
timeFrame: 12 months
Locations:
city: Ljubljana
country: Slovenia
facility: Faculty of Sport
city: Ljubljana
country: Slovenia
facility: Handball Clubs
Study officials:
affiliation: Faculty of Sport, University of Ljubljana
name: Kristina Drole, MSc
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: 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.