Netball injuries: prevention and recovery tips

Netball is one of the biggest participation sports in the Casey area, and it produces a very specific injury profile: ankles and knees, over and over. The footwork rule means players must stop almost instantly from full speed, and that sudden deceleration onto one leg is exactly the mechanism that injures ankles, knees, and the tissues around them. Here's what we see most in netballers at our Berwick clinic, and what actually reduces the risk.

Ankle sprains

The most common netball injury by a wide margin. Landing on an opponent's foot or landing awkwardly at speed rolls the ankle outward, straining the ligaments on the outside of the joint. The first sprain matters most: research consistently shows the biggest risk factor for spraining an ankle is having sprained it before. Proper rehab, meaning restored joint movement, strength, and single-leg balance rather than just waiting for swelling to settle, is what breaks that cycle.

Knee injuries

Netball's stop-jump-land pattern loads the knee heavily, and female athletes carry a higher ACL injury risk than males in jumping and cutting sports. Not every sore knee is a ligament tear, though. Far more often we see patellofemoral pain (pain around the kneecap from repeated landing), patellar tendon irritation, and knee pain driven by poor landing mechanics further up the chain, at the hip. All of these respond well to treatment and targeted strength work.

Fingers, calves and shoulders

Jarred and dislocated fingers from hard passes are part of the game and usually recover quickly with proper taping and mobility work. Calf strains show up in older players returning to the court after years away, especially in the first month of the season. Shoulder pain tends to affect shooters and centre-court players with high passing volumes.

What actually prevents netball injuries

The strongest evidence sits with structured warm-ups that include landing practice, single-leg balance, and strength work, done consistently before training and games. The KNEE program (Netball Australia's injury prevention program) exists precisely because this stuff works, cutting knee and ankle injury rates significantly when teams actually do it. Calf raises, single-leg squats, and practising soft, controlled landings cover a lot of the same ground for players training on their own.

When to get assessed

A rolled ankle that's still swollen or unstable after a few days, knee pain that flares with every game, or a calf that keeps 'grabbing' are all worth assessing early. Most netball injuries we see in Berwick, Narre Warren and Cranbourne players resolve well with a few sessions of treatment and a targeted exercise plan, and the earlier they're looked at, the fewer weeks of the season they cost.

Book an initial consultation at RISE Sports & Spinal in Berwick. Clear diagnosis, hands-on treatment, and a plan that actually gets you better.