the prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries in junior elite squash players

Background: the dynamics and competitiveness of squash place a high demand on the musculoskeletal system of players, thus increasing the injury risk of youth squash players. objectives: the purpose of this study was to analyze and report the musculoskeletal injury epidemiology of junior elite squash players. methods: twenty-one male adolescent squash players were included in this retrospective analysis of routinely collected data over a period of 6-years. origin, location, diagnosis and incidence of all injuries are reported. results: a total of 212 injuries were recorded: 58% of these injuries (n = 124) were squash (on-court) related, 16% (n = 33) were because of other training activities and 26% of these injuries were (n = 55) non-squash related. most of squash related training injuries were in the lower limbs (67%,n=105). themostfrequently reported diagnosiswas“osteochondrosis” (22%,n=34), followed by “contusion” (13%, n = 20). time-loss injuries accounted for 103 injuries and the overall injury incidence was 4.78 per 1000 hours of training. conclusions: it was established that pre-mature squash players are at greater risk of growth related injuries during their peak growth period. a significant number of injuries at junior level are found to occur outside of training time and result in periods of time loss. as a result, skill acquisition is negatively affected which in turn negatively affects development opportunities in junior athletes.