Introduction: Floorball is a new indoor sport, which is rapidly gaining popularity worldwide. Rough body contact is not allowed, but with evolution of sport in recent years, body contacts with an opponent become part of the game. Floorball is also associated with sudden acceleration, stops and turns, which is the reason of many injuries, mainly involving knees and ankles. Due to its short existence, there are only few studies that have investigated injuries in floorball. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence of injuries in Slovenian floorball and to identify differences between male and female players. Methods: 115 licensed male and female floorball players from Slovenian top floorball league in season 2015/16 participated in this study. Structured questionnaire designed for the purpose of this study was used for collecting data. Results: During the study period from September 2015 to March 2016, 55 out of 115 (47.8 %) players sustained 74 injuries, of which 36 %. (18/50) occurred to female and 57 % (37/65) to male players. The injury incidence was higher during matches (40.00 per 1000 game hours) than during trainings (1.96 per 1000 training hours) for both sexes. Half of all injuries by severity scale were level I. Acute injuries were the most common (59.5 %) in both sexes. Injuries of joints (51.4 %) and muscles (33.8 %) were the most common in both sexes. The most common injury type was joint sprain (33.8 %). The most commonly injured body part was lower limb (77 %), of which ankles (27 %) and knees (24.3 %) were the most commonly injured. The most common causes of acute injures were sudden move and contact with opponent in both sexes (29,5 %). Half of all acute injuries happened in non-contact situations. The majority of injuries in males occurred during matches (41.7 %). In female players, the percentage of injures that occurred during matches and trainings was the same (34.6 %). Discussion and conclusion: The results of this study show that injury incidence in floorball in Slovenia is high, especially during matches. Acute injuries, from which knees and ankles are the most commonly injured body sites, mostly occur in non-contact situations. However, the study also shows high presence of chronic injuries in floorball, what is in line with other newer studies of floorball injuries.
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