TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2022//
TI  - The incidence and burden of injury in male adolescent community rugby union in Australia
JO  - Science and medicine in football
A1  - Murray-Smith, S.
A1  - Williams, S.
A1  - Whalan, M.
A1  - Peoples, G. E.
A1  - Sampson, J. A.
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - OBJECTIVES: To describe the incidence, location, mechanism and burden of injury in community male adolescent rugby. <br><br>METHODS: A prospective cohort injury surveillance study using sports trainers to record 'any physical complaint' over three seasons (2018/2019/2021) in 979 U13-U17 community male rugby union players. <br><br>RESULTS: One hundred and fifty-two time-loss injuries (27.6/1000 hours) with an associated burden of 2313 days (419.7 days/1000 hours), 169 non-time loss medical attention (30.1/1000 hours) and 813 physical complaints (147.5/1000 hours) were recorded from 5511.7 exposure hours (matches 3932.5 hours, training 1579.2 hours). Time-loss injury incidence was highest in U16 (45/1000 hours) and lowest in U17 (16.6/1000 hours), with U17 significantly lower than U16 and U15 age-grades (p < 0.05). Injury burden was greatest in U13 (561.4 days/1000 hours), and significantly higher than U15 and U17 (p < 0.05). Collectively, injury incidence was greatest for the head/neck (11.8/1000 hours), bruise/contusions were most common (8.7/1000 hours) and concussion (4.5/1000 hours) accounted for the greatest injury burden (102 days/1000 hours). Being tackled was the most observed injury mechanism (10.0/1000 hours). Forwards had significantly higher incidence in mild injury (p < 0.01). The total burden (p < 0.001) associated with mild (p < 0.001) and moderate injuries (p < 0.001) was significantly higher in forwards, as was the burden of being tackled (p < 0.001), collisions (p < 0.001), trunk (p < 0.001) and lower limb (p < 0.01) injury locations. In contrast, ruck-related injury burden was greater in backs (p < 0.001). <br><br>CONCLUSION: This study showed age-grade and positional differences in incidence and burden of injury in community adolescent rugby union. The rate of non-time loss relative to time-loss injury and muscle strain injury in U13-U14s suggests further research into injury risk and maturation in rugby is needed.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 2473-3938
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/24733938.2022.2123556
ID  - ref1
ER  -