\With more than 20 million participants worldwide, netball is one of the most popular female team sports. However, it also has one of the highest injury rates across court-based sports. The game's unique combination of repeated jumping, high-speed acceleration and deceleration, abrupt stopping, pivoting, and single-leg landings exposes players to substantial forces through the lower limbs.
Recent systematic reviews report injury rates ranging from approximately 11 injuries per 1,000 player-hours at community level to over 50 injuries per 1,000 player-hours in elite competition, with substantially higher rates reported during tournament play where players compete in multiple matches over short periods.
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What Are the Most Common Netball Injuries?
Across almost four decades of research, one finding has remained remarkably consistent: Most netball injuries involve the lower limb.
The recent systematic review by Downs et al. identified the ankle and knee as the two most injured body regions across recreational, representative and elite players.
The 2024 scoping review by Horne et al., which analysed 65 epidemiological studies, reached the same conclusion while highlighting that ankle and knee injuries continue to account for the greatest injury burden across all playing levels.
Ankle Sprains: Lateral ankle sprains remain the single most common injury in netball. Depending on the population studied, ankle injuries account for approximately 26–84% of all reported injuries, with most occurring following awkward landings after jumping for rebounds or interceptions. Although often considered "minor", recurrent ankle sprains frequently result in chronic ankle instability, impaired balance and an increased risk of future injury.
Knee Injuries: Knee injuries represent the greatest long-term burden for many players – i.e. take the longest to fully recover from. Recent evidence suggests knee injuries are becoming increasingly common, with one recreational survey reporting that 46% of adult players had sustained a knee injury within the previous five years, resulting in an average absence of more than six months from training and over eight months from competition. ACL injuries are particularly significant because they commonly require surgery and prolonged rehabilitation before returning to competition.
Other frequently reported injuries include:
Patellar tendinopathy
tendon injuries
Calf muscle strains
Finger injuries
Wrist injuries
Lower back pain
Although these injuries occur less frequently than ankle and knee injuries, they may still significantly affect performance and participation.
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How Do Most Netball Injuries Occur?
Understanding how injuries occur is essential for both rehabilitation and prevention.
Across multiple studies, landing has consistently been identified as the most common mechanism of lower limb injury.
Other common injury situations include rapid changes of direction, sudden deceleration, pivoting, collisions and slips and falls. The repeated exposure to these high-force movements explains why lower limb injuries dominate netball injury statistics.
Research also shows that many serious knee injuries, including ACL injuries, occur without direct contact, highlighting the importance of movement quality, neuromuscular control and lower limb strength.
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What Should Netball Rehabilitation Include?
Current evidence supports rehabilitation programmes that progressively restore the specific physical demands required during match play.
For players recovering from injury, rehabilitation should prepare the body not only to be pain-free, but to tolerate the repeated jumping, landing, pivoting and change-of-direction demands that make netball such a physically challenging sport.
Downs, C., Snodgrass, S. J., Weerasekara, I., Valkenborghs, S. R., & Callister, R. (2021). Injuries in netball: A systematic review. Sports Medicine - Open, 7(1), 3.
Horne, S., Shaheen, A. F., Baltzopoulos, B., & Hills, L. (2024). The netball injury evidence base: A scoping review of methodologies and recommendations for future approaches. Systematic Reviews, 13, 203.
Mullally, E. M., Atack, A. C., Glaister, M., Clark, N. C., & Brown, N. (2023). A cross-sectional retrospective survey of injury situation and prevalence in female recreational netball players with a focus on knee injuries. Physical Therapy in Sport, 60, 70–74.
