Collegiate rugby union injury patterns in New England: A prospective cohort study

Hamish A. Kerr ^1*, Christine M. Curtis ², Lyle J. Micheli ³, Mininder S. Kocher ³, David Zurakowski ³, John H.M. Brooks ⁴ and Simon P.T. Kemp ⁵

¹ Albany Medical Center, United States
² Children's Hospital, Boston and Harvard Medical School, United States
³ Children's Hospital, Boston and Harvard Medical School, United States
⁴ Rugby Football Union, United Kingdom
⁵ Rugby Football Union, United States

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: kerrh{at}mail.amc.edu.

Accepted 7 January 2008

Abstract

Objective: Establish injury profile of collegiate rugby union in the U.S.A.

Design/setting: 31 men's and 38 women's collegiate rugby union teams prospectively recorded injuries during games and practice during 2005-06. 3 teams withdrew prior to data collection. An injury was defined as;

1. Occurring in an organized intercollegiate game or practice; and

2. Requiring medical attention during or after the game or practice, or

3. Resulting in any restriction of the athletes' participation for 1 day(s) beyond the day of injury, or in a dental injury. Main Outcome measurements: A total of 847 injuries (men:447; women:400) during 48,026 practice (men:24,280; women:23,746) and 25,808 game (men:13,943; women:11,865) exposures were recorded.

Results: During games, injury rates of 22.5(95 per cent confidence interval: 20.2-25.0) and 22.7(20.2-25.5)/1,000 game athletic exposures (GAE) or 16.9 (15.1-18.9) and 17.1(15.1-19.1)/1,000 player game-hours (PGH) were recorded (men; women). Over half of all match injuries were of major severity (> 7 days absence) (men: 56%; women: 51%) and the tackle was the game event most associated with injury (men: 48%; women: 53%).

Conclusions: Collegiate game injury rates for rugby were lower than rates recorded previously in men's professional club and international rugby and lower than reported by the National Collegiate Athletic Association Injury Surveillance System (N.C.A.A. I.S.S.) for American football but similar to rates reported for men's and women's soccer in 2005-06.