Epidemiology of Injuries in Racquet Sports: a Cross-sectional Study of Specific Injuries Within One Olympic Cycle

Objective Despite the growing interest in racquet sports, injury prevalence, circumstances and severity as a function of gender, performance level and return to play have not been investigated to date. The aim was therefore to evaluate the occurrence of sport-specific injuries from a quantitative and qualitative perspective in the Olympic discilines Tennis, Badminton and Table Tennis. Methods Racquet sport-specific injuries and frequencies were assessed according to gender and performance level in one Olympic cycle (from the Olympic Games in London in 2012 until Rio de Janeiro in 2016). The Injury severity was recorded by time loss and performance reduction. Data was retrospectively collected based on a questionnaire. Results A total of 390 (55%) athletes have suffered a serious injury. There were more injuries during training than competition. 78% of the three most common injuries in the various racket sports involved the lower extremities. The longest injury time loss was seen in Tennis for an unspecified injury of the shoulder (16±12 weeks), in Badminton for the foot-ligament injury (13±14 weeks) and the meniscus injury of the knee in table tennis (13±10 weeks). The injuries to the knee accounted for the highest number of athletes with a reduced level of performance (Badminton: Knee - unspecified injury: reduced level = 64%; Table tennis: Knee - meniscus injury: reduced level = 54%) Conclusion Although recognized as one entity of racquet sports with some similar trends in terms of injuries, there are some relevant differences in injury type, circumstances and consequences, which should be considered in future sport-specific injury prevention strategies.