Pilot version of injury prevention training including exercises integrated within warm-up and handball skills training, respectively
| Exercises integrated within warm-up (n=6) | ||
| Exercise description | Included physical principles | Integrated psychological aspects |
| Plank with arm wrestling and ball. 2 levels of difficulty (online supplemental file 5) | Core and grip muscle strength | Pairwise, competition |
| Single-leg standing balance with ball | Leg and grip muscle strength | Pairwise, competition |
| Run with foot plant* | Hip-knee-foot alignment, soft and controlled landings, leg strength | Mindful muscle activation, peer-feedback (optional) |
| Bow and arrow with resistance band* | Muscle strength posterior part of shoulder | Pairwise |
| Shoulder external rotation (upper arm close to body) with resistance band | Muscle strength posterior part of shoulder | Pairwise |
| Squat with partner. 2 levels of difficulty | Leg and core muscle strength, hip-knee-foot alignment | Pairwise |
| Exercises integrated within handball skills training (n=8) | ||
| Exercise description | ||
| Backwards throw* | Muscle strength posterior part of shoulder, wrist | Pairwise, peer-feedback |
| Throw behind back | Muscle strength posterior part of shoulder, wrist | Pairwise, peer-feedback |
| Overhead-throw | Muscle strength posterior part of shoulder, wrist | Pairwise, peer-feedback |
| Integrated strength in technical skills training | Muscle strength exercises coupled with specific handball skills practice, that is, shoulder—throwing; core—defence; jumping and landing—feint and cutting movements | Group exercise in which players choose exercises from circuit programme |
| Slow-motion feint with elevated arm. 3 levels of difficulty (online supplemental file 6) | Leg and core muscle strength | Pairwise, mindful muscle activation |
| Jumping and cutting exercise with elevated arm and ball in hand. 3 levels of difficulty | Landing on both feet, hip-knee-foot alignment, soft and controlled landings, narrow cutting technique, leg muscle strength | Mindful muscle activation |
| Jumping and cutting exercise with catch and throw (catch ball after landing) | Landing on both feet, hip-knee-foot alignment, soft and controlled landings, narrow cutting technique, leg muscle strength | Pairwise, mindful muscle activation |
| Jumping and cutting exercise with catch and throw (catch ball when jumping, before landing) (online supplemental file 7) | Landing on both feet, hip-knee-foot alignment, soft and controlled landings, narrow cutting technique, leg muscle strength | Pairwise, mindful muscle activation |
The exercises were developed by the research team based on feedback from coaches and players (table 2) and were made available for coaches in a mobile application, I-PROTECT GO, specifically developed for the present study.
Examples of exercises are provided in online supplemental file 8, along with videos of exercises provided in online supplemental files 5–7.
*Exercises from Fit to play (fittoplay.org).
I-PROTECT, Implementing injury Prevention training ROutines in TEams and Clubs in youth Team handball.