| Title |
How Much Rugby is Too Much? A Seven-Season Prospective Cohort Study of Match Exposure and Injury Risk in Professional Rugby Union Players
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Sports Medicine, March 2017
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s40279-017-0721-3 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Sean Williams, Grant Trewartha, Simon P. T. Kemp, John H. M. Brooks, Colin W. Fuller, Aileen E. Taylor, Matthew J. Cross, Gavin Shaddick, Keith A. Stokes |
| Abstract |
Numerous studies have documented the incidence and nature of injuries in professional rugby union, but few have identified specific risk factors for injury in this population using appropriate statistical methods. In particular, little is known about the role of previous short-term or longer-term match exposures in current injury risk in this setting. Our objective was to investigate the influence that match exposure has upon injury risk in rugby union. We conducted a seven-season (2006/7-2012/13) prospective cohort study of time-loss injuries in 1253 English premiership professional players. Players' 12-month match exposure (number of matches a player was involved in for ≥20 min in the preceding 12 months) and 1-month match exposure (number of full-game equivalent [FGE] matches in preceding 30 days) were assessed as risk factors for injury using a nested frailty model and magnitude-based inferences. The 12-month match exposure was associated with injury risk in a non-linear fashion; players who had been involved in fewer than ≈15 or more than ≈35 matches over the preceding 12-month period were more susceptible to injury. Monthly match exposure was linearly associated with injury risk (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.14 per 2 standard deviation [3.2 FGE] increase, 90% confidence interval [CI] 1.08-1.20; likely harmful), although this effect was substantially attenuated for players in the upper quartile for 12-month match exposures (>28 matches). A player's accumulated (12-month) and recent (1-month) match exposure substantially influences their current injury risk. Careful attention should be paid to planning the workloads and monitoring the responses of players involved in: (1) a high (>≈35) number of matches in the previous year, (2) a low (<≈15) number of matches in the previous year, and (3) a low-moderate number of matches in previous year but who have played intensively in the recent past. These findings make a major contribution to evidence-based policy decisions regarding match workload limits in professional rugby union. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 104 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 32 | 31% |
| United States | 10 | 10% |
| Australia | 5 | 5% |
| South Africa | 5 | 5% |
| Ireland | 4 | 4% |
| Chile | 2 | 2% |
| Argentina | 1 | <1% |
| Canada | 1 | <1% |
| Portugal | 1 | <1% |
| Other | 4 | 4% |
| Unknown | 39 | 38% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 64 | 62% |
| Scientists | 30 | 29% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 8 | 8% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 2 | 2% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 173 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Spain | 1 | <1% |
| Unknown | 172 | 99% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 31 | 18% |
| Student > Bachelor | 27 | 16% |
| Student > Master | 25 | 14% |
| Other | 11 | 6% |
| Researcher | 7 | 4% |
| Other | 31 | 18% |
| Unknown | 41 | 24% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Sports and Recreations | 65 | 38% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 23 | 13% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 14 | 8% |
| Social Sciences | 5 | 3% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 3 | 2% |
| Other | 15 | 9% |
| Unknown | 48 | 28% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 68. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 07 August 2017.
All research outputs
#625,438
of 25,310,061 outputs
Outputs from Sports Medicine
#596
of 2,903 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#12,882
of 315,094 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Sports Medicine
#23
of 52 outputs
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