Field Hockey

Abstract

Field hockey is played worldwide by men and women at a recreational and professional level. It is listed among Olympic sport games and 132 national associations for field hockey exist. Similar to the most popular sports, professionals have high requirements in terms of aerobic threshold, muscular strength, and endurance. In regular tournaments, players usually face up to 6 matches in one week, with average play hours between 44 and 58 min per match and a running distance between 3400 and 9500 m per match. According to recent evidence in scientific literature, the rates of injury vary from 0.1 to 90.9 injuries for player-hours. The number of injuries is higher during games than during training and is higher in men than woman, especially during tournaments. The main body regions that are involved in injury are lower limbs (rate range 13–77%), head (2–50%), upper limbs (0–44%), and trunk (0–16%). The International Hockey Federation has recently developed several strategies to prevent injuries and decrease the injury severity. The two main advocated strategies are the use of protective equipment and specific exercise training.