Introduction: Handball is one of the most popular team sports in Europe. Injuries are very common in handball, which can be related to its dynamic character and less restrictive rules regarding physical contact. Injuries of the lower limb are very common, of which the most common are ankle injuries, while the most serious are knee injuries. Because the treatment of sports injuries is often demanding, time-consuming and expensive, prevention is justified from both a medical and economic point of view. Purpose: The purpose of this diploma work is to review the literature on the influence of preventive workout on reducing the number of lower limb injuries in handball. Methods: This is a review of the literature, using descriptive method. The literature search was conducted in the PubMed database whit selected keywords and the use of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results: There were five studies included in this review. The studies included mainly younger players; three studies monitored the effectiveness of preventive exercise in reducing the number of injuries only in women, and the other two in both sexes. Four compared the effects of the prevention program on reducing the number of lower limb injuries between the control and intervention group, and one monitored Norwegian national championship teams for three years and recorded the incidence of anterior cruciate ligament injuries. Research results show that the use of preventive workout is effective in reducing the number of lower limb injuries. The included studies show efficacy primarily in the prevention of knee injuries, and less effectiveness of prevention programs on ankle injuries. Discussion and conclusion: Based on the review of literature we can conclude that the use of preventive programs in handball is recommended for reducing the number of injuries. However, due to the various components included in the programs, we cannot say which is the most effective. There are certain limitations in research that make it impossible to generalize the results to the entire population. The positive effect of using balance devices such as balance pillows and boards is also visible. In the future, it would be necessary to further explore which component of the program is the most important; at the same time they should be included in the daily process of younger players, where we can more easily influence the technique of playing.
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