Objective of the study was to analyze the gender- and age-specific injury statistics of the China and Russia national youth volleyball teams and develop injury prevention recommendations. Methods and structure of the study. We run an expert questionnaire survey to mine and analyze the injury data on a sample of China (Henan province) 13-17-year-old volleyball elite (189 men and 139 women) with the sports records of 2-8 years (see Table 1 hereunder). The peer Russia volleyball elite injury data were mined in the relevant study reports. A comparative analysis of the above data could be beneficial, as we believe, for the injury prevention and progress facilitation goals. Results and conclusions. The study found that the vulnerable parts of the Chinese male volleyball players were fingers, ankles, shoulders, elbows, waist, knees, and wrists, and in women - fingers, ankles, waist, shoulders, and knees. In addition, it was found that leg injuries were more common among the Russian volleyball players. The Russian volleyball players suffered 4 major volleyball-related injuries: ankles, fingers, knees, and shoulders. The injury data analyses give grounds to offer the following injury prevention recommendations for the physical training systems: - A special attention will be paid to the minor/ moderate injuries of ligaments, muscle overstrain and bruises, particularly in the beginner trainings; plus prevention of injuries of the most sensitive bodily parts including fingers, ankles, knees, shoulders, waist and back in the everyday trainings; - The youth team training and competitive systems will be prudently designed, scheduled and customized to the actual physical and technical fitness levels; and they shall never plainly mimic the adult ones. A special priority will be given to the comprehensive physical fitness and standard sport-specific motor skills building components at no risk for the natural movement biomechanics to fully prevent acute injuries in the process.
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