Head impact exposure from match participation in women’s rugby league over one season of domestic competition

Abstract

Our cohort of 21 female rugby league athletes were exposed to repetitive sub-concussive head impact exposure with an average of 14 impacts per-player per-match. Forwards were exposed to more impacts per-match than backs and these impacts were of higher magnitude. Most impacts occurred on the side of the head and were sustained during the second half of the game. Clinicians, coaches and players should be aware of the rates and magnitude of head impacts in female rugby league athletes.

Head impact exposure comparison between male and female amateur rugby league participants measured with an instrumented patch

“…It has been reported that junior rugby league players [22] recorded a mean of 13 impacts per-player permatch, resulting in a median PLA(g) and PRA(rad/s 2 ) of 16g and 2,773 rad/s 2 . This was similar for senior female amateur rugby league players [24] with a mean of 14 impacts per-player per-match resulting in median PLA(g) and PRA(rad/s 2 ) of 15g and 2,886 rad/s 2 . Senior amateur male rugby league players [23] recorded a higher number of impacts with a mean of 52 impacts per-player per-match resulting in a median PLA(g) and PRA(rad/s 2 ) of 14g and 3,181 rad/s 2 .…”

“…To better understand concussive injuries, head impact biomechanics have been extensively studied in a variety of sporting environments such as American football [11][12][13][14], soccer [15,16], ice hockey [17,18], lacrosse [19], Australian rules football [20], rugby union [21] and rugby league [22][23][24]. The studies reporting on head impact biomechanics in rugby league have been undertaken at junior [22], senior amateur male [23] and senior amateur female [24], levels of participation. It has been reported that junior rugby league players [22] recorded a mean of 13 impacts per-player permatch, resulting in a median PLA(g) and PRA(rad/s 2 ) of 16g and 2,773 rad/s 2 .…”

“…Although these studies [22][23][24] identi ied the magnitude, frequency and location of impacts to the head, only a few studies [11,18,19,25], have compared male and female head impact biomechanics within the same sporting activity. All these studies [11,18,19,25] reported that males recorded more impacts to the head in both match and practice sessions when compared with females.…”

“…Rugby league and rugby union are two sporting codes where the rules and regulations are identical for both male and female participants. Although studies [21][22][23][24]26] have been published in both these sporting codes, only rugby league have reported on male [23] and female [24] impacts to the head at the same level of participation. Previous studies [11,18,19,25] have reported comparisons between male and female participants where gender speci ic rules applied.…”

“…Previous studies [11,18,19,25] have reported comparisons between male and female participants where gender speci ic rules applied. However these studies [23,24] were played under the international rugby league rules for the same duration (2 x 40 min halves). As a result, this study was undertaken to compare a year of head impact biomechanics between male and female participants in the same competition year.…”