On average, a professional rugby union player is more likely than not to sustain a concussion after 25 matches

Rafferty, James; Ranson, Craig; Oatley, Giles; Mostafa, Mohamed; Mathema, Prabhat; Crick, Tom; Moore, Isabel S.

doi:10.1136/bjsports-2017-098417

Cited by 59 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“… 14 31 Some investigators have found a link between higher injury rates in heavier players, while others have not. 22 31–33 Interestingly, although not a universal finding, one study has found centres and hookers, the players we have identified as increasing mass disproportionately since professionalism, have the greatest risk of injury. 34 In another study, again midfield backs (centres) had the greatest absence through injury 31 ; the reason cited was high-speed tackles, which brings us back to Newton’s laws of motion and the forces involved when big people run very fast into each other.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Changes in northern hemisphere male international rugby union players’ body mass and height between 1955 and 2015

Hill

Rilstone

Stacey

et al. 2018

BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med

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ObjectivesWe sought to establish the effects of professionalism, which officially began in 1995, on the body mass and height of northern hemisphere male international rugby union (RU) players. We hypothesised that mass would significantly increase following professionalism. We also investigated the changes in size of players according to their playing position, and we compared changes to rugby league (RL) players and the public.MethodsThe body mass and height of players representing their international team for that country’s first game of the Five Nations in 1955, 1965, 1975, 1985 and 1995 and, for 2005 and 2015, the Six Nations, were collected from matchday programmes. RL players’ data were collected from the Challenge Cup final games played in the same years.ResultsInternational RU player body mass has significantly increased since 1995. In 1955 mean (±SD) player body mass was 84.8 kg (±8.2); in 2015, it was 105.4 kg (±12.1), an increase of 24.3%. Between 1955 and 2015, the body mass of forwards increased steadily, whereas that of backs has mostly gone up since 1995. RU player body mass gain has exceeded that of RL, but the age-matched difference between RU players and the public has remained relatively constant.ConclusionsThe factors influencing the gain in body mass of rugby players are legion; however, we believe that the interpretation of the law relating to the scrum put-in and changes allowing substitutions have, at least in part, contributed to the observed changes. Injury severity is increasing, and this may be linked to greater forces (caused by greater body mass) occurring in contact. RU law makers should adjust the rules to encourage speed and skill at the expense of mass.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Changes in northern hemisphere male international rugby union players’ body mass and height between 1955 and 2015

Hill

Rilstone

Stacey

et al. 2018

BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This study also reiterated certain factors associated with a student having sustained a concussion in their lifetime. Male students, those who played contact sports, and students who played 2 seasons of sports at school (ie, more exposure) were more likely to report a concussion in their lifetime than other students.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Concussion Experiences in New England Private Preparatory High School Students Who Played Sports or Recreational Activities

Daugherty

Waltzman

Snedaker³

et al. 2020

Journal of School Health

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BACKGROUND Sports‐ and recreation‐related (SRR) activities are a major cause of adolescent concussions. Most adolescent SRR concussion research has been conducted among public school students. As private schools are qualitatively different from public schools (eg, location, socioeconomic status, sports played), this study explores the concussion experiences of a large group of private high school students. METHODS We surveyed 2047 New England private preparatory high school students who played sports or engaged in a recreational activity in 2018 about the sports they played, and their self‐reported concussion experiences (eg, age at first concussion, if concussions were sports‐ or recreation‐related). Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate statistics are presented. RESULTS One‐third (33.0%) of students who reported engaging in sport‐ or recreation‐related activities self‐reported experiencing a concussion in their lifetime. A higher percentage of boys, students who played contact sports, and those who played multiple seasons of school sports reported a concussion. Sex, contact level of primary sport played, and age of first concussion were also significantly associated with reporting a sports‐ or recreation‐related concussion. CONCLUSIONS A sizeable proportion of private preparatory high school students reported experiencing a concussion, with some students at higher risk. Private preparatory high school‐specific concussion prevention strategies may be needed.

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“…The number of studies within each sport varied, with 31 studies in football/soccer [4,25,30,, 13 in rugby (two rugby sevens, eleven rugby union) [2,27,[65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75], five in athletics [76][77][78][79][80], one in Olympic multi-event [81] and one in cricket [70] (Table 2). There were no studies from aquatic sports, horseracing or tennis.…”

Section: Orchard Et Al 2016 [15]mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There was a wide range in the number of participants included in the data collection, from 36 athletes [39] to 9672 athletes [81], whilst nine studies only reported the number of teams without providing the number of individual athletes that participated [37,42,44,47,51,70]. Only ten studies reported the number of athletes sustaining the total number of injuries [30,41,47,50,56,65,70,72,75], and two studies reported the proportion of players who sustained more than one injury [27,30]. The majority of studies (n = 37) used a time-loss definition for injury, five used a medical attention definition, five used a medical attention and time-loss definition and four used an all-encompassing definition.…”

Section: Orchard Et Al 2016 [15]mentioning

confidence: 99%

Recurrent and Subsequent Injuries in Professional and Elite Sport: a Systematic Review

et al. 2020

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Background Injury surveillance in professional sport categorises injuries as either “new” or “recurrent”. In an attempt to make categorisation more specific, subsequent injury categorisation models have been developed, but it is not known how often these models are used. The aim was to assess how recurrent and subsequent injuries are reported within professional and elite sport. Methods Online databases were searched using a search strategy. Studies needed to prospectively report injury rates within professional or elite sports that have published consensus statements for injury surveillance. Results A total of 1322 titles and abstract were identified and screened. One hundred and ninety-nine studies were screened at full text resulting in 81 eligible studies. Thirty studies did not report recurrent injuries and were excluded from data extraction. Within the studies that reported recurrent injuries, 21 reported the number and percentage; 13 reported only the proportion within all injuries; three reported only the number; five reported the number, percentage and incidence; and two only reported the incidence. Seven studies used subsequent injury terminology, with three reporting subsequent injury following concussion, one using an amended subsequent injury model and three using specific subsequent injury categorisation models. The majority of subsequent injuries (ranging from 51 to 80%) were categorised as different and unrelated to the index injury. The proportion of recurrent injuries (exact same body area and nature related to index injury) ranged from 5 to 21%. Conclusions Reporting recurrent or subsequent injuries remains inconsistent, and few studies have utilised subsequent injury models. There is limited understanding of subsequent injury risk, which may affect the development of injury prevention strategies. Trial Registration CRD42019119264

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On average, a professional rugby union player is more likely than not to sustain a concussion after 25 matches

Cited by 59 publications

References 29 publications

Changes in northern hemisphere male international rugby union players’ body mass and height between 1955 and 2015

Changes in northern hemisphere male international rugby union players’ body mass and height between 1955 and 2015

Concussion Experiences in New England Private Preparatory High School Students Who Played Sports or Recreational Activities

Recurrent and Subsequent Injuries in Professional and Elite Sport: a Systematic Review

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