Now on its 7th edition, the EHF Scientific Conference, hosted in the Portuguese city of Porto on Thursday and Friday continues to provide knowledge for all levels of handball.
The information given at the event enables the sport to develop together. With 'Circle of a Handball Life' being at the core of the event, the topics addressed covered all levels of the sport, from children's to elite handball.
The community gathered in Portugal from all around Europe, as well as tuning in online, to look to the future of the sport.
The second and final day started off with Norwegian professor Tina Pill Torabi offering a talk on the 'Closed Kinetic Chain Upper Extremity Stability Test' (CKCUEST) and its relevance to performance in elite team handball players with shoulder pain, previous pain or without shoulder pain.
The topic of preventing and understanding injuries was already addressed by Jesper Bencke thoroughly on Thursday with the pre-conference workshop on acute knee injuries in handball educating many.
The Danish academic, who works at the Copenhagen University Hospital, further raised awareness in this area by discussing ACL injuries and the importance of monitoring the chain of trainings and undertaking steps to tailor the required adequate construction of a stable and lasting preparation.
The topic of children’s sports was also underlined with clear importance. Head of development in the Danish Handball Federation, Lars Moller, elaborated on the development of the game and rules for children’s handball. He addressed the importance of understanding the needs and expectations of the very young ages in approaching the handball game.
Dr. Fernando Gomes, from the University of Lisbon, spoke about the effects of Small-sided Games (SSGs) formats on the technical performance of young handball players under 11 years of age. He highlighted to the audience that research shows that: “variables such as court size and the number of players has an adaptive effect on players' influencing matters such as fitness.
Delving into the elite levels of handball, Dr. Lars Michalsik, from the Institute of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanices, showed evidence that anaerobic training is proven to be crucial for players at the top level.
A study on throwing load in handball was presented by Linda Coppens, from the Dutch handball federation. She analysed the impacting weight of repetitive throws on the physical integrity and capability to perform.
Shoulder injuries, largely being non-contact injuries, tendon/muscle injuries, are often load related and therefore the monitoring of throwing load is key for handball.
"Monitoring throwing volume with IMUs (inertial measurement units) is not perfect yet, but an accessible and promising method," Coppens pointed out. This sort of valuable lesson can help protect players and keep them playing for the long-term.
Another insightful Scientific Conference has concluded with all these plus many more topics addressed.
To see the full scope of the event - click here to see the event programme.
