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During the 2014/2015 school year, more than 480,000 high school students participated in interscholastic volleyball in the United States. As participation has increased over the past two decades, the number of volleyball-related injuries has risen as well. According to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, overuse of the shoulder and strains/sprains around the ankle are the most common injuries to volleyball players.

You may be asking yourself how you can prevent these common volleyball injuries from ruining your season or fun at the beach courts. The first step is to understand proper volleyball technique. The next step is to take action, by finding proper bracing and applying simple stretching.

Technique

It's important to understand that volleyball a physically demanding sport, where players are required to jump, dive, sprint and hit the ball with explosive power. A game with such intensity can put stress to the body's muscles and bone structure, which can lead to injury. All players need understand proper volleyball technique to reduce the amount of injuries. Know your level of experience and strength. Do not go out and do something in the game that is way beyond your playing level. This can increase your chance of an injury. You can still play the game with intensity, but remember to play smart and play within your skill range.

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Bracing

The big question is: How can you prevent or even treat these injuries if they occur? The simplest and most efficient way to prevent these injuries is to apply some kind of support. DonJoy Performance provides a wide variety of bracing and compression sleeves that can be the perfect solution to help prevent these common volleyball injuries from happening, and even help treat them if they do happen. Here are several examples of our braces that can help fit a volleyball player's needs:

-WEBTECH KNEE acts as a shock absorber and has a silicone web that aligns the knee structure. The stress and force put on the knees from jumping and bending, will be absorbed by this brace's advanced technology. This brace can also be utilized to help speed up recovery of a knee injury, and take away the pain.

-POD ANKLE is DonJoy Performance's ultimate ankle support brace that allows full range of motion while preventing all kinds of injuries that can happen in the game. It is recommended that the POD should be worn under low top athletic shoes, thus making it the best ankle brace option for indoor volleyball.

-PINPOINT KNEE is the key solution to one of the most common injuries in volleyball. Jumper's Knee (Patellar Tendonitis), which makes up 80% of overuse injuries, occurs when too much stress and force is frequently put on knee and causes swelling of the patellar tendon. The PINPOINT strap applies compression to the exact point of pain. The strap itself is small, light and easy to apply.

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Stretching

Another solution to preventing injuries while playing volleyball is to simply stretch prior to activity. Simple quad, hamstring, ankle and shoulder stretches can help warm up your body before a game. It is important to always take time to warm up and stretch. According to FIVB (Fédération Internationale de Volleyball), “Warm-up prior to and proper cool-down following a competition readies the athlete for the demands of the event and facilitates subsequent recovery”.

Feel free to post your knowledge and other prevention/recovery tips in the comment section below, and be sure to check out our line of protective products here.