A Review of a Decade of Rugby Union Injury Epidemiology: 2007-2017

Viviers, Pierre L.; Viljoen, J T; Derman, Wayne

doi:10.1177/1941738118757178

Cited by 47 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 34 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…With only 2 days' rest, the incidence of injuries was much higher than the values reported for professional players and men's senior international games. 11,13 With 3 days between games, the incidence of injuries was similar to that recorded during the senior World Cup. 4,6 Markers of muscle damage remained elevated 48 hours after a match, suggesting that players were not at full match readiness and were therefore more susceptible to injury.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 63%

“…The incidence of injuries among our players was, in fact, similar to that noted for the senior men's international team. 13 International games are very intense, perhaps explaining why our players sustained more injuries than reported for professional players (81 per 1000 hours) in a recent meta-analysis. 11 With 2 rather than 3 days' rest between tournament games, the incidence of injuries was higher.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Epidemiology of Injuries Sustained by Elite Under-18 Rugby Players

Solis-Mencia¹,

Ramos-Álvarez

Murias-Lozano

et al. 2019

Journal of Athletic Training

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Context The physical nature of rugby is responsible for the high incidence of injuries, but no researchers have examined the epidemiology of injuries sustained by elite under-18 rugby players. Objective To investigate the incidence of injuries sustained by players on the Spanish national under-18 rugby team during their participation in 4 European championships (2014–2017) and the types of play in which they occurred. Design Cohort study. Setting European rugby championships. Patients or Other Participants Ninety-eight under-18 rugby players. Main Outcome Measure(s) All injuries sustained during the championship periods were recorded per the World Rugby protocol. Results A total of 40 injuries were logged over the 4 championships. The incidence of injury was higher during matches than during training (P < .05), with 138.0 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 136.5, 139.6) injuries per 1000 hours of play compared with 1.2 (95% CI = 1.2, 1.3) per 1000 hours of training. With only 2 days of rest between games, the injury rate was higher than with 3 days of rest (P < .05). More injuries were sustained during the third quarter of the game: 13 (44.8%) versus 6 (20.6%) in the last quarter, 5 (17.3%) in the second quarter, and 5 (17.3%) in the first quarter. Conclusions The most common injuries during matches were sprains and concussions, and these injuries were more likely to occur during matches than during training. Most injuries were caused by tackles and occurred during the third quarter of the game. These findings indicate that teams should focus on teaching players skills to reduce injuries caused by tackles and warming up properly before returning to the field after halftime. The injury rate was higher with only 2 versus 3 days' rest between games. These results suggest that young players' matches should be at least 72 hours apart.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 63%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Epidemiology of Injuries Sustained by Elite Under-18 Rugby Players

Solis-Mencia¹,

Ramos-Álvarez

Murias-Lozano

et al. 2019

Journal of Athletic Training

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This finding is in line with a previous study of amateur rugby union (Swain et al, 2010). Tackle situations have the greatest propensity to cause all types of injuries for both tacklers and the ball-carriers across all levels of play (Viviers et al, 2018). Recent video findings have shown an increased incidence of tackle-related injuries in rugby union (Burger et al, 2017;Cross et al, 2019;Fuller et al, 2010;Quarrie and Hopkins, 2008;Suzuki et al, 2019;Tierney et al, 2018;Tucker et al, 2017).…”

Section: Incidence Rate and Game Situationssupporting

confidence: 90%

Analysis of Tackling Events Leading to Mild Cervical Injuries in Collegiate Rugby Union

Suzuki

Nagai

Iwai

et al. 2020

Int. J. Sport Health Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The present study aimed to determine the mechanisms of mild cervical injuries caused by tackling in a rugby union. This study enrolled 137 male players from a Japanese collegiate rugby union club during the 2009-2013 seasons. Twenty-nine (53.7%) of 54 incidents leading to mild cervical injury were identified from match video records and injury data that were reported under the definition of medical attention. In addition, all tackles by players in the same match in which they sustained cervical injury were extracted as a control cohort. All tackles were coded according to eleven characteristics of three tackle phases. Twenty-one tackles were the main events leading to mild cervical injury. The likelihood of tackler-associated mild cervical injuries was significantly higher when tacklers had no time to face forward at the offside line before tackle situations, tackles with incorrect tackler head positions, and not using arms after initial contact. These results suggest that further investigation is needed to determine specific tackling characteristics considering the three tackle phases and their combined effects.

show abstract

“…There are two codes of rugby that differ according to rules and the number of players on the field; rugby union and rugby league. Rugby union is one of the world's most popular team contact sports [1,2], with over 8.5 million athletes playing rugby union across 121 countries [2]. In the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland alone, more than 2.5 million people play rugby union, over a quarter of whom are teenage athletes, indicating potential growth in future years [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cumulative Sport-Related Injuries and Longer Term Impact in Retired Male Elite- and Amateur-Level Rugby Code Athletes and Non-contact Athletes: A Retrospective Study

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Rugby union and rugby league are popular team contact sports, but they bring a high risk of injury. Although previous studies have reported injury occurrence across one or several seasons, none have explored the total number of injuries sustained across an entire career. As the first to do so, the aim of this study was to report on cumulative injuries and their perceived long-term impact in retired rugby code athletes compared to athletes from non-contact sports. Methods One hundred and eighty-nine former rugby code athletes (rugby union n = 145; rugby league n = 44) and 65 former non-contact athletes were recruited to the UK Rugby Health Project between September 2016 and December 2018. Details on sports participation, sports injuries and concussion history, sports injury-related surgeries, and previous and current health were obtained from a validated, online self-report questionnaire. Results Former elite rugby code athletes (n = 83) reported more total injuries per player (median 39, IQR 35) than former amateur rugby code athletes (n = 106; median 23, IQR 30; p = 0.014) and non-contact sports athletes (n = 65; median 7.5, IQR 15; p < 0.001). Concussion was the most frequently reported injury for the elite and amateur rugby code groups, followed by upper/lower back and knee ligament injuries. These injuries also presented with the highest recurrence. Rugby code groups reported a higher continued impact of previous concussion, neck injuries, shoulder dislocation, ACL tears, and knee ligament injuries (p = 0.003–0.045). The reported prevalence of osteoarthritis was more than twofold greater in the elite rugby code group than in non-contact athletes (51% v 22%, p < 0.001). The prevalence of back pain and/or severe and regular joint pain was high across all groups (47–80%), particularly the elite rugby code group. The total number of joint injuries and sport injury-related surgeries was higher in those who reported current osteoarthritis and current severe and regular joint pain (p < 0.001–p = 0.028). Conclusion Across multiple injury types, past participation in rugby union and rugby league, particularly at elite level, is associated with a high cumulative injury load and a continued impact of previous injuries post-retirement. Given the high number of reported concussions (and their recurrence) and associations between previous injuries during a player’s career and current musculoskeletal conditions, efforts should be prioritized to reduce the occurrence and recurrence of injuries in rugby codes at all levels of the sport. Strategies should also be developed for supporting the specific physical health needs of rugby code athletes post-retirement.

show abstract

A Review of a Decade of Rugby Union Injury Epidemiology: 2007-2017

Cited by 47 publications

References 34 publications

Epidemiology of Injuries Sustained by Elite Under-18 Rugby Players

Epidemiology of Injuries Sustained by Elite Under-18 Rugby Players

Analysis of Tackling Events Leading to Mild Cervical Injuries in Collegiate Rugby Union

Cumulative Sport-Related Injuries and Longer Term Impact in Retired Male Elite- and Amateur-Level Rugby Code Athletes and Non-contact Athletes: A Retrospective Study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About