Consensus Statement on Injury Definitions and Data Collection Procedures for Studies of Injuries in Rugby Union

Abstract

Wide variations in the definitions and methodologies used for studies of injuries in rugby union have created inconsistencies in reported data and made interstudy comparisons of results difficult. The International Rugby Board established a Rugby Injury Consensus Group (RICG) to agree on appropriate definitions and methodologies to standardize the recording of injuries and reporting of studies in rugby union. The RICG reviewed the consensus definitions and methodologies previously published for football (soccer) at a meeting in Dublin to assess their suitability for and application to rugby union. Following this meeting, iterative draft statements were prepared and circulated to members of the RICG for comment; a follow-up meeting was arranged in Dublin at which time all definitions and procedures were finalized. At this stage, all authors confirmed their agreement with the consensus statement. The agreed-on document was presented to and approved by the International Rugby Board Council. Agreement was reached on definitions for injury, recurrent injury, nonfatal catastrophic injury, and training and match exposures together with criteria for classifying injuries in terms of severity, location, type, diagnosis, and causation. The definitions and methodology presented in this consensus statement for rugby union are similar to those proposed for football. Adoption of the proposals presented in this consensus statement should ensure that more consistent and comparable results will be obtained from studies of injuries within rugby union.

Physical Game Demands in Elite Rugby Union: A Global Positioning System Analysis and Possible Implications for Rehabilitation

“…This is consistent with the fact that backs, compared to forwards, tend to complete greater distances in open-play running and to complete more sprinting movements on average throughout a game, signifying that these are core tasks of the game for these players. 14,15 This is the first study to report the body load sustained in tackles and scrums in international Rugby Union and, therefore, to provide an understanding of the forces sustained in these events. Injuries can be conceptualized as resulting from a transfer of energy that exceeds the ability of the body to maintain its structural or functional integrity.…”

“…Primary risk factors for injuries in tackling have been identified as player speed or speed differential, contact with head/neck, and front-on/side-on tackles. 15,18,23 Understanding the mechanism of injury is essential to the sports medicine practitioner, and analysis of sustained body load based on GPS data in conjunction with video analysis may assist the sports medicine team in identifying the mechanisms of injury. Severe body load sustained by the forward and back during tackles/collisions similar to those reported in this game may be a red flag for clinicians to examine players for injury after a match, even if the player does not immediately report injury or appear to be injured.…”

Ballet Injuries: Injury Incidence and Severity Over 1 Year

“…4,22,27 These include the choice of research design, such as injury surveys 3,26,28,46 and retrospective data collection, 17,37 and variations in injury definitions, including medical attention 17,37 and financial cost. 18 When examined prospectively, the incidence of dance injury has been reported to be between 0.62 and 5.6 injuries per 1000 dancing hours. 19,30,38 Two of these studies were based on preprofessional dancers, 19,30 which may render the findings less generalizable to a professional ballet company.…”

Epidemiology of knee injuries in Japanese collegiate rugby union players

“…This study was designed to consider only time-loss injuries 8) , an injury that prevented a player from fully participating in a following training session or rugby match. All injured players were clinically diagnosed using imaging techniques, including MRI, CT, and X-ray examination.…”

“…The occurrence of knee injuries was recorded by a team doctor and athletic trainers during the 2009-2012 playing seasons. Injury data included type, time (match or training), mechanism, and days until return to play (number of days that elapsed from the date of injury to the player's return to full participation in team training and availability for match selection) 8) . The exposure time data were recorded from all matches and training sessions by team athletic trainers.…”