821 EP069 – Injuries in English basketball: player injury history, perceptions and preventative behaviours

Background Basketball is the second most participated team sport in England behind football. Despite this, there is a scarcity of injury research in this context. Objective Describe the injury history, perceptions and preventive behaviours of basketball players in England Design Cross-sectional survey Setting English basketball clubs across all playing levels (>16 years old) Participants 119 participants (59 males, 60 females) who played in the 2022/23 season. Interventions Bespoke survey (injury history, perceptions and behaviours towards injury prevention) conducted at the end of the season Main outcome measures Descriptive statistics (frequency, prevalence, rates) Results Throughout their career, 97% of participants had sustained a basketball injury, with 19% requiring surgery, whilst 30% had sustained a basketball related concussion. In the 2022/23 season alone, 66% of participants reported sustaining an injury. Of the 78 injuries reported (median severity 8–28 days), 66% occurred through contact (player, floor, ball), whilst most injuries occurred to the lower limb (73%). Concussions accounted for 8% of injuries. Nearly half (48%) of participants suffered with anterior knee pain during the season, with 28% of these resulting in a time-loss injury. Players demonstrated good knowledge of risk and the negative impact of injuries, as well as agreeing the neuromuscular training programme can reduce injury risk and should be used. The most common preventative strategies reported by players were agility (66%) and strength training (65%). More than half of participants (55%) reported using protective equipment, with 48% of all players using either ankle bracing or taping. Only 6% of players reported using a mouthguard. Conclusions There appears a high prevalence of injuries amongst English basketball players, with concern around injury type and severity. This data suggests preventive strategies are urgently needed and players would support their use, although no evidence-based strategies have been developed or assessed in this population.