The purpose of this study is will help us to recognize whether recreational volley ball players are prone to musculoskeletal injures and also about the intensity with which it can affect them, providing a baseline data for the same in order to consider preventive measures for further studies and the quality of life can be improved as a future concern. With the aim being, to study the prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries in recreational volleyball players using nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire. Participants included were recreational adult volleyball players. In this study 69 participants were chosen from 2 regional volleyball clubs with the inclusion criteria being, minimum 18 years of age or older, playing in a volleyball team competing recreationally in competition, practising volleyball (training and/or match) at least twice a week, and no known history of any kind of injuries as the reason being any fall or accidents (3-6 months prior, other that of volleyball), recent surgeries, any other sports related injuries. Explanatory group meetings were conducted and the coaches of the registered teams were invited for the explanatory group meetings during which they acknowledged additional information about the purpose and procedures of the study (also additional written information to give to their players). Coaches and players of the enrolled teams gave their informed consent. The procedure of data collection was interview-based questionnaire, where health related data including self-reported medical condition and also the injury type, frequency, duration of injury were gathered.

The results are presented in Table 1 and the prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries in recreational volleyball players. It states that there is 77% prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries in recreational volleyball players and 23% do not have any musculoskeletal injury.

It is seen that the areas that are affected are wrist with the highest prevalence of 39% followed by shoulder 36%, elbow 25%, knee 25%, upper back 22%, low back 22%, neck 12%, hip/thigh/buttocks 12% and ankle/foot 12%

This study was done to observe the prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries in recreational volleyball players.

As per Cronbach’s Alpha the reliability of the statistics was found to be good. (0.761)

As per the data analysed from the questionnaire, the study shows that there is 77% prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries in recreational volleyball players, of which the musculoskeletal injury with the highest prevalence is found to be present in the wrist with highest prevalence of 39% followed by shoulder 36%, elbow 25%, knee 25%, upper back 22%, low back 22%, neck 12%, hip/thigh/buttocks 12% and ankle/foot 12%.

Considering shoulder injuries and other parts the correlating injuries were found to be upper back, elbow, lower back and hip, athletes with upper back injuries showed correlation with shoulder, elbow and knee injuries, also players found with injuries in the elbow showed relation with upper back wrist and lower back injuries. Similarly, wrist injuries had significance with elbow. Lower back problems were associated with elbow, wrist, hips and knees. Hips and thigh injuries had relation with shoulder, wrist, lower back, ankle and knee injuries. Ankle and foot were associated with hip and knee injuries.

Injuries in volleyball are commonly due to jumping and landing as well as from hitting and blocking the ball. The ball can reach speeds of 80 mph and can cause significant injury should the ball strike an unintended area of a player's body. 12

More injuries occur during hitting and blocking than during passing or setting. Most injuries, whether acute or overuse in nature, occur during the act of jumping. Overuse injuries are somewhat more common than acute injuries and are due to faulty technique, amount of repetition, or type of playing surface. 12

There are a lower number of ankle sprains in beach volleyball, 7 which also may be related to the small team size, since with fewer players on the court, there is less chance of landing on someone else's foot. There is a lower incidence of patellar tendinitis in beach volleyball compared with indoor volleyball. This may be because the player cannot jump as high in sand so there is less of an eccentric quadriceps load upon landing. The sand provides a softer landing surface, which also puts less eccentric load on the quadriceps tendon. 12

A number of injury risk factors have been identified, e.g., techniques (movement patterns) of jumping, landing and hitting, hardness of the playing surface, shock absorbency of shoes, level of physical conditioning. 13

Compared to the other sports volleyball players had a higher frequency of injuries to the hands or fingers (45%/25%) and ankle (31%/20%), but fewer injuries located in the other anatomical regions. 14

There was a clear positive relationship between playing surface and incidence of injury - the harder the playing surface the higher the incidence of injury. 13

In this study common mistakes made by recreational volleyball players are the incorrect techniques used during the game, lack of understanding about the air pressure within the ball, ignorance towards warm up and cool down, incorrect foot wear uses during the game.

During the study it was also found that players having chronic injuries show acute symptoms of injury as well and majority of the players do not perform regular warm up and also do not take any kind of treatment after occurrence of injury.

It is concluded that there is high prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries, that is 77% in recreational volleyball players majorly present in the wrist followed by shoulder, elbow, knee, upper back, lower back, neck, hip/thighs/buttocks and then ankle/foot.