Netball Niggles: Screening, Strength and Injury Prevention

Most netballers know the feeling.

A slightly sore knee after training. An ankle that does not feel quite right. A shin that starts complaining after a tournament weekend. Maybe some back discomfort that is manageable but keeps returning.

Not every niggle becomes an injury, and not every ache means something is wrong.

But persistent or recurring symptoms can be useful information.

They may tell us that the demands being placed on the athlete are currently exceeding the amount of load that a particular area is comfortable tolerating.

Our Netball Physiotherapy approach looks at the athlete as a whole: their training load, strength, landing and change-of-direction capacity, previous injuries and the demands of their position on court.

Why Is Netball So Demanding?

Netball places repeated high loads through the lower limbs.

A player needs to:

• Accelerate rapidly.
• Stop within a very short distance.
• Jump and land repeatedly.
• Land on one leg.
• Change direction at speed.
• React to opponents and teammates.
• Maintain these qualities as fatigue develops.

It is not surprising that the ankle and knee consistently appear among the most commonly injured areas in netball.

Landing, falls and collisions are also frequently reported circumstances around injury.

That makes strength, landing capacity, balance, deceleration and exposure to netball-specific movement important parts of physical preparation.

Why Do Niggles Develop?

There is usually no single explanation.

A common scenario is a change in the amount or intensity of training.

For example:

• Beginning pre-season after a quieter summer.
• Adding representative training to club netball.
• Playing several games across a carnival weekend.
• Increasing gym training at the same time as court training.
• Returning after illness, injury or a holiday.
• Going through a period of rapid growth.

The athlete may be doing activities they have performed hundreds of times before, but suddenly there is much more of them.

The issue is often not that the movement itself is bad. It is that the current workload has moved beyond what the athlete is prepared for.

Strength and Capacity Matter Too

Two athletes can complete exactly the same training session and respond very differently.

One reason is that their physical capacity may be different.

A netballer may benefit from developing:

• Quadriceps strength.
• Calf strength and endurance.
• Hamstring strength.
• Hip strength.
• Single-leg strength.
• Jumping capacity.
• Landing and deceleration ability.

Building these qualities gives the athlete more capacity to tolerate the forces they repeatedly encounter on court.

It can also contribute to performance, because the qualities that help an athlete tolerate netball are often the same qualities needed to jump, accelerate and change direction effectively.

What About Landing Technique?

Landing is particularly relevant in netball.

The rules often require a player to catch, land and rapidly control their body before passing or changing direction.

A recent systematic review and expert consensus process looking specifically at injury risk in women's netball identified poor landing technique and mechanics as a high-priority area for injury-risk mitigation.

That does not mean there is one perfect way to land.

Players need to be capable of managing many different landing situations, including:

• Single-leg landings.
• Double-leg landings.
• Landings after contact.
• Rotated landings.
• Landing and immediately passing.
• Landing and changing direction.
• Landing while fatigued.

The aim is to develop options and physical capacity rather than trying to make every landing look identical.

What Is a Netball Athlete Screening?

A screening is best thought of as a physical profile.

Rather than trying to predict injury, we assess qualities that are relevant to the player's current level and goals.

Depending on the athlete, this may include:

• Quadriceps strength.
• Hamstring strength.
• Calf strength.
• Hip strength.
• Single-leg strength.
• Jump height and force production.
• Landing tasks.
• Balance and control.
• Change-of-direction ability.
• Mobility where relevant.
• Previous injury history.
• Current training and competition load.

The findings can then help decide what is actually worth working on.

Not Every Difference Needs Fixing

This is an important part of modern sports screening.

A test might show that one leg is slightly stronger than the other, one hip moves differently or one landing looks different from the opposite side.

That does not automatically mean something is wrong.

Human beings are naturally asymmetrical.

The question is whether the finding is large enough, consistent enough or relevant enough to the athlete's history and sport to be worth addressing.

Screening should therefore guide decision-making, not create a long list of supposed problems.

The Ankle Is Particularly Important in Netball

Ankle injuries are consistently reported as one of the most common injury categories in netball.

They can occur after landing on another player's foot, landing awkwardly or changing direction.

A previous ankle sprain can also leave an athlete with reduced strength, balance or confidence if rehabilitation stops as soon as walking becomes comfortable.

Useful preparation may include:

• Calf strengthening.
• Single-leg balance.
• Hopping and landing.
• Change-of-direction training.
• Progressive exposure to unpredictable court movements.

Modern evidence also supports neuromuscular training programs for reducing ankle injury rates across athletic populations.

What About Knee and ACL Injuries?

Knee injuries, particularly ACL injuries, understandably receive a lot of attention in netball.

Netball combines several movements commonly involved in non-contact ACL injuries: landing, deceleration and rapid change of direction.

Neuromuscular injury-prevention programs aim to repeatedly train these tasks alongside strength and balance.

Netball Australia developed the KNEE Program specifically around these demands, with versions for junior, recreational and elite players.

The program targets qualities such as:

• Take-off technique.
• Landing.
• Deceleration.
• Change of direction.
• Strength.
• Balance.

These programs are most useful when they become part of normal training rather than something completed briefly at the start of the season and then forgotten.

What If You Already Have a Niggle?

Not every ache requires you to stop playing.

But if the same pain keeps returning, progressively worsens or starts changing what you can do on court, it is worth paying attention to.

Sometimes the answer may be as simple as temporarily adjusting training volume.

Other times we may need to address:

• Strength.
• Training load.
• Landing capacity.
• Jumping volume.
• Recovery from a previous injury.
• Growth-related changes in younger athletes.
• How quickly the athlete has progressed back into competition.

The important thing is that the solution should match the problem.

Can Screening Prevent Every Injury?

No.

Some injuries occur through contact or unpredictable situations that are impossible to completely control.

There is also no test battery capable of identifying exactly which athlete will be injured next.

The value of screening is more practical.

It can help answer questions such as:

• Is this athlete strong enough for their current level?
• Have they restored capacity after a previous injury?
• Are there obvious gaps between their current ability and the demands of their position?
• What should we prioritise in their gym program?
• How can we track progress over the season?

Screening Should Lead to Action

A collection of test scores is not particularly useful if nothing changes afterwards.

The important part of a netball assessment is turning the findings into a practical plan.

That may involve:

• A targeted strength program.
• Calf or ankle work.
• Jump and landing progressions.
• Deceleration and change-of-direction training.
• Adjusting court or gym load.
• Rehabilitation of an existing niggle.
• Re-testing important physical qualities later in the season.

At RHP, our Netball Physiotherapy assessments can be tailored to individual athletes as well as players returning from injury or looking to understand their current physical profile.

Keep the Niggle in Perspective, But Don't Ignore It Forever

A little soreness after sport is not automatically a problem.

Equally, repeatedly ignoring the same symptom for months because you can still get through a game is not always the best strategy.

The aim is to understand what your body is currently tolerating, what netball is asking of you and whether there are useful things you can build.

For some players that means managing training load.

For others it means getting stronger.

For another player it might mean improving landing, deceleration or ankle capacity after an old injury.

There is rarely one answer for every netballer.

If a recurring niggle is affecting your training, or you want a clearer picture of the physical qualities that matter for your game, our Netball Physiotherapy team can help build a plan around your position, level and goals.

Author in the know

Sam Donaldson

Director, APA titled Sports and Exercise Physiotherapist. Sam loves to treat athletes with lower limb injuries and has a special interest in knees of all ages; adolescent knee pain, athlete with knee pain, ACL injuries, ACL rehabilitation, Knee Osteoarthritis and Knee Replacement recovery. He is a Dad, Football enthusiast and loves to move. BAppSci (HMS), MPhtyStudies, MPHTY (Sports)