@article {Fullerbjsports-2014-094369, author = {Colin W Fuller and Aileen E Taylor and Martin Raftery}, title = {Does long-distance air travel associated with the Sevens World Series increase players{\textquoteright} risk of injury?}, elocation-id = {bjsports-2014-094369}, year = {2015}, doi = {10.1136/bjsports-2014-094369}, publisher = {British Association of Sport and Excercise Medicine}, abstract = {Objective To assess whether players who cross >=6 time zones and/or undertake >=10 h air travel prior to competition experience a higher risk of injury during the Sevens World Series than players not required to undertake this level of travel. Design Five-year, prospective, cohort study. Participants All players from nine core teams competing in the Sevens World Series from 2008/2009 to 2013/2014. Results A total of 436 match injuries and 3363 player-match-hours of exposure were recorded in the study, which corresponds to an overall incidence of 129.6 injuries/1000 player-match-hours, irrespective of the nature of pretournament travel. The incidence of injury for those players crossing >=6 time zones and undertaking >=10 h air travel prior to competition (99.3 injuries/1000 player-match-hours) was significantly lower than that of players undertaking >=10 h air travel but crossing <=2 time zones prior to competition (148.8 injuries/1000 player-match-hours; p=0.003) and of those undertaking <=3 h air travel and crossing <=2 time zones prior to competition (146.4 injuries/1000 player-match-hours; p=0.004). There was no significant difference in the incidence of injury for players crossing <=2 time zones in the week prior to competition, irrespective of whether the length of air travel was <=3 h or >=10 h (p=0.904). Precompetition air travel had no significant effect (p=0.879) on the performance of teams in terms of their final Tournament ranking positions. Conclusions There was no evidence to suggest that players were exposed to a greater risk of injury following extensive air travel and crossing multiple time zones prior to Tournaments in the Sevens World Series.}, issn = {0306-3674}, URL = {https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2015/02/27/bjsports-2014-094369}, eprint = {https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2015/02/27/bjsports-2014-094369.full.pdf}, journal = {British Journal of Sports Medicine} }