rss
Br J Sports Med 2007;41:582-587 doi:10.1136/bjsm.2007.035568
  • Original article

Association of ground hardness with injuries in rugby union

  1. Masahiro Takemura1,
  2. Anthony G Schneiders2,
  3. Melanie L Bell3,
  4. Peter D Milburn2
  1. 1
    Graduate School of Human Comprehensive Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan
  2. 2
    School of Physiotherapy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
  3. 3
    Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
  1. Dr A G Schneiders, School of Physiotherapy, University of Otago, 325 Great King Street, Dunedin, New Zealand; tony.schneiders{at}otago.ac.nz
  • Accepted 19 April 2007
  • Published Online First 15 May 2007

Abstract

Background: Ground hardness is considered one of the possible risk factors associated with rugby injuries.

Objectives: To examine the contribution of ground hardness, rainfall and evapotranspiration to the incidence of injury, and to investigate seasonal injury bias throughout one full season of rugby union.

Methods: A prospective epidemiological study of rugby injuries was performed on 271 players from rugby union teams involved in the premier grade rugby competition in Dunedin, New Zealand. Ground hardness was measured before each match over 20 rounds with an industrial penetrometer, and local weather information was collected through the National Institute of Weather and Atmospheric Research and the Otago Regional Council. Poisson mixed models were used to describe injury incidence as a function of ground hardness throughout the season.

Results: The overall injury incidence during the season was 52 injuries per 1000 match player-hours (95% CI 42 to 65). Although injury incidence decreased gradually by round with a rate ratio of 0.98 (95% CI 0.96 to 0.99) (p = 0.036), and the hardness of match grounds decreased significantly over the season (0.16 MPa/round, 95% CI 0.12 to 0.21, p<0.001), a non-significant association was demonstrated between injury incidence and ground hardness. Injury incidence was not associated with a combination of ground hardness, rainfall and evapotranspiration on the day of the match or cumulative rainfall and evapotranspiration before each match.

Conclusions: Seasonal change in ground hardness and an early-season bias of injuries was demonstrated. Although the contribution of ground hardness to injury incidence was not statistically significant, match round and injury incidence were highly correlated, confirming a seasonal bias, which may confound the relationship of injury to ground condition.

Footnotes

  • Conflict of interest: None declared.

  • Abbreviations:
    ACL
    anterior cruciate ligament
    AFL
    Australian Football League

This Article

  1. Abstract
  2. Full text
  3. PDF
  4. All versions of this article:
    1. bjsm.2007.035568v1
    2. 41/9/582 most recent

Responses

  1. Submit a response
  2. No responses published

Register for free content

The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.

Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.