Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center

Intoduction

Odd-Egil Olsen will defend his PhD-dissertation: "Injuries in Team Handball: Risk factors, injury mechanisms and prevention" for the degree Doctor Scientiarum at Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center, the Norwegian University of Sport and Physical Education on Monday the 11th of April, 2005.

PT MSc Odd-Egil Olsen is born June 18th, 1968, and he grown up in Kvalsund/Hammerfest, Norway. He is authorized as Specialist in Rehabilitation in Orthopaedic Physiotherapy by the Norwegian Physiotherapy Federation. His primary education is physiotherapy and cand. mag. in sports science. He finished his post-graduate thesis at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences in the autumn 2000. Odd-Egil Olsen started as a PhD-student at the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences in January 2001. Professor dr. med. Roald Bahr at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences has been his main tutor.

The main aim of this thesis was to increase the knowledge about serious lower limb injuries, such as those to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), and thereby help develop preventive measures of these common team handball injuries. We wanted to examine the relationship between floor type and risk of ACL injury; describe mechanisms for ACL injuries; incidence and pattern of injuries in youth players; and finally, determine the effectiveness of exercises on reducing the incidence of lower limb injuries. So far, there is no evidence for the causes of ACL injuries in team handball, and furthermore, no randomised controlled trial among adolescents with a sufficient sample size, have shown that acute knee or ankle injuries could be reduced by preventive training programmes.

This project included four studies: The first paper studied the floor types and ACL injuries in Norwegian team handball top three divisions for men and women. The main observation of this study was that the incidence of ACL injuries for women was two to three folds greater on artificial floor types than on wooden floors, whereas no such association was found for men. In the second paper, a systematically video analysis was done to describe the injury mechanisms for ACL injuries in female team handball. Two main injury mechanisms were identified the ACL occurs mainly in a plant-and-cut movement (60%) or a one-legged jump shot landing (20%) caused by a forceful valgus collapse with the knee close to full extension combined with external or internal rotation of the tibia, and without direct contact to the injured limb.In the third paper, the injury pattern in youth team handball was studied by two prospective registration methods. The results indicate that the rate of injuries in youth team handball is as high as at the senior level and that prevention should focus on knee and ankle injuries. Coach reports seem to be the best method to register injuries in youth team handball.The last paper was a cluster randomised controlled trial conducted to investigate the effect of a structured warm-up programme to reduce the incidence of knee and ankle injuries in youth team handball. The results show that acute knee or ankle injuries can be reduced by 50% and severe injuries even more. Preventive training should therefore be introduced as a natural part of youth athlete training programmes.

Dissertation Committee:

Professor dr. med. Arne T. Høstmark, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, committee leader

1. opponent: Professor emeritus in sports medicine dr. med. Ejnar Erikson, Stockholm, Sweden

2. opponent: Professor dr. philos. Inger Holm, Rikshospitalet University Hospital, Oslo

Programme:

10.15am-11.00am         Trial lecture: Effect of physiotherapy on

                                   osteoarthritis of the hip

13.00pm-16.00pm         Dissertation lecture with discussion

Read more about Odd-Egil and his projects here