A new study has teased out data showing that heat stress is a major risk factor for volleyball players. While the numbers were relatively low, the data clearly points in a direction where player medical time-outs were correlated with heat stress and recent illnesses.
11 Year Study Finds Heat Stress Major Risk Factor in Volleyball
1 min read Premium comments
Secondary#blackglobetemperature#heatillness#heatrelatedmedicaltimeouts
In the article, “Epidemiology and risk factors for heat illness: 11 years of Heat Stress Monitoring Programme data from the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour,” published online on October 11, 2020 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers analyzed 11 years of Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) heat-stress-monitoring data to study the impact different environmental parameters have on the risk of a heat-related medical time-out.
Data was collected from 8,530 matches of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. Before each of the matches, the referee measured air temperature, black globe temperature, relative humidity and wet-bulb globe temperature and then registered the number of heat-related medical time-outs. The absolute humidity was calculated later.
Overall, there were 20 heat-related medical time-outs, but only three resulted in forfeiting the match. These types of cases occurred more often than not during games played in Asia during the fourth quarter of the year (p < 0.001).
Two of the players who had to forfeit the match had experienced diarrhea or gastrointestinal issues in the 5 days before the match.
All the heat-related medical time-outs occurred at higher wet-bulb globe temperature, temperatures and absolute humidity (p < .001), but with a lower relative humidity (p = 0.027).
The researchers wrote, “The current data showed that an increase in ambient or black globe temperature, but not relative humidity; increased the risk of a heat-related medical time-out; but that the absolute risk remained low in elite beach volleyball players.”
They added, “However, suffering or recovering from a recent illness may represent a risk factor for a heat-related medical timeout to lead to player forfeit.”
React:
Discussion
This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
Join the conversation
Orthopedic professionals are discussing this. Sign in and upgrade to read every comment and add your voice.