Assessment of injury risk factors and mechanisms in elite netball

Sports participation carries a high risk of injury with considerable negative effects to individuals, their team, public health and the economy. Netball is a particularly popular female team game with a high risk of injury particularly to the lower limb. However, at present little is known regarding the risk factors and mechanisms of injury in the sport.

This PhD project will develop a multifactorial model to identify the risk factors and mechanisms of injury occurring in the Vitality Netball Superleague. Specifically the first study will develop and validate an injury surveillance system for Netball. The second study will develop video-based methods to assess injury mechanisms in Netball and the third study will utilise the new methods to identify key injury risk factors and mechanisms in the sport.

This research approach aims to identify the complex multifactorial nature of sports injuries and the findings will be used to inform injury prevention strategies in Netball.

Related Research Outputs

Bishop DT, Moore S, Horne S, Teszka R (2014). Attentional capture by spoken language: effect on netballer’s visual task performance. J Sports Sci 32:17, 1611-1620.

Meet the Principal Investigator(s) for the project

Miss Sara Horne - Sara is a Research Fellow and Laboratory Manager within the Biomechanics discipline in Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences at Brunel University London. Her role involves the day-to-day management of the Biomechanics Laboratory and teaching and research within the areas of Biomechanics and Performance Analysis. Sara is currently conducting PhD research assessing the risk factors and mechanisms of injury in elite Netball. Career History After completing her BA (Hons) degree at West London Institute of Higher Education Sara was offered the position of Biomechanics Scientific Officer while completing her MSc in Sport Sciences at the same Institute (which became a College of Brunel University). Subsequently she has worked as the Biomechanics Laboratory Manger at Brunel for many years being instrumental in the development of the laboratories and particularly the interfacing and integration of the advanced imaging and biomechanical techniques that support the biomechanics research group projects. Sara has also been actively involved in the teaching of Biomechanics at all levels and the Biomechanics groups various research projects. In 2012 her position changed to Research Fellow and Laboratory Manager in recognition of her involvement in a number of funded research projects. Throughout her career Sara has also conducted consultancy work with a range of sports teams and athletes. She is a qualified Netball coach and applied Level 4 accredited performance analyst with the International Society of Performance Analysis of Sport. She has worked as performance analyst for the Brunel Hurricanes and Glasgow Wildcats Netball Superleague Teams and for the Scotland Netball squads. She continues to work with junior and elite athletes in a range of racket sports. Sara has more recently introduced Performance Analysis into the Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences curriculum and currently supports student projects and work experience in this area.

Related Research Group(s)

Physical Activity in Health and Disease - The centre conducts interdisciplinary research to improve human health and performance through regular physical activity and exercise, and by limiting sedentary behaviour.

Partnering with confidence

Organisations interested in our research can partner with us with confidence backed by an external and independent benchmark: The Knowledge Exchange Framework. Read more.

Project last modified 28/06/2021