Netball and Basketball Knee Injuries: Landing Mechanics, Load and Prevention

Where Knee Injuries Occur on Court

Netball and basketball both combine repeated jumping, rapid deceleration and changes of direction on a hard surface. In netball, a systematic review of 46 studies found that ankle and knee injuries were the most commonly reported, and that the main circumstances of injury were landings, collisions and falls (Downs et al., 2021). The same review noted little consistency in how injury was defined, so reported rates vary widely between studies, and recreational players are less well described than elite players.

“Knee injury” also covers more than ligament tears. Sprains, cartilage and meniscal problems, patellofemoral pain and tendon overload around the kneecap all occur in jumping sports, and each has a different course and management.

Landing Mechanics: Important, but Not the Whole Story

Because landings are a common injury circumstance, landing technique receives a great deal of attention. In a systematic review and Delphi consensus on netball injury risk factors, experts agreed on 61 risk factors across five groups: individual characteristics, lifestyle, training and competition, sport science and medical provision, and facilities and equipment. Poor landing technique or mechanics received the highest priority rating for mitigation (Whitehead et al., 2025). This is a consensus of expert opinion, however, rather than proof that a particular landing pattern causes injury.

A knee that drifts inward on landing is therefore best treated as one piece of information, to be weighed alongside strength, fatigue, previous injury, footwear and playing load, rather than as a verdict in itself. Training and competition factors, such as congested fixtures or a sudden increase in court time, form one of the consensus groups in their own right.

What Prevention Programs Can and Cannot Offer

The strongest evidence concerns neuromuscular training programs, which combine strength, jumping and landing, balance and control exercises. A systematic review and meta-analysis of 18 studies and 27,231 female participants found that these programs reduced the risk of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury from 1 in 54 to 1 in 111. Programs that included landing stabilisation and lower body strength exercises in each session appeared more effective, and programs aimed at school-aged athletes showed greater reductions than those aimed at college or professional-aged athletes (Petushek et al., 2019).

These findings concern ACL injury in female athletes. They do not show that the same programs prevent every kind of knee problem, and the right starting point for an individual depends on injury history, current strength and training load. A knee that swells, feels unstable or locks after a landing or pivot should be assessed rather than played on.