CHAPTER 87 • RUGBY INJURIES 517- Equipment
1.Ball: Appears similar to an oversized, over-
inflated, white football.
2. Boots: The rugby cleats
a. Typically have removable studs or molded mul-
tistudded rubber soles and have cleats similar to
soccer. Single toe cleats (as in baseball) are not
permitted.
3. No braces containing metal or hard plastic of any
kind (including knee braces) are permitted.
4. Unlike American football, casts or splints are not
permitted to be worn during play.
5. No jewelry, earrings, hair devices (other than elas-
tic bands), or eye wear (other than contact lenses)
are permitted.
6. Optional equipment
a. Shoulder pads: Generally a padded pull over top
with a maximum thickness of 1/2in. of foam
padding
b.Mitts: Fingerless gloves
c. Soft head gear: Scrumcap
d. Mouth guard
i. Highly suggested
ii. Mandatory for high school and below
e. Shin guards: Thin, 0.5-cm soft padding only—
no hard plastic—may be worn under the rugby
socks.
f. Women may wear chest pads—Generally simi-
lar to shoulder pads, except padding extends
down the front of the chest.
EPIDEMIOLOGY
- Sprains, strains, contusion, abrasions, and lacerations
are to be expected in rugby (Dietzen and Topping,
1999).
•A Scottish study found an incidence of injury of 1.45
per 100 player appearances (Dietzen and Topping,
1999).
•Tackling has been sited as the major cause of injury
(Dietzen and Topping, 1999). - The New Zealand Injury and Performance Project
found that the location of injuries in this sport is wide-
spread throughout the entire body (Gerrard, Waller,
and Bird, 1994). The following are the percent of
players that reported an injury at each of the following
sites in the previous 12 months.- Head/skull/inner ear—10%
- Face/outer ear/eye—19%
- Neck—11%
- Shoulder/clavicle—21%
- Back—17%
- Chest and abdomen—4%
7. Arm/elbow—1%
8. Wrist/hand/finger—4%
9. Pelvis/hip/groin—2%
- Thumb—18%
- Upper leg—19%
- Knee—17%
- Lower leg—17%
- Ankle—24%
- Heel/foot/toe—1%
- The same study of total rugby injuries in a year found
the following total distribution of injuries (Gerrard,
Waller, and Bird, 1994):
- Sprains, strains, and other soft tissue injury—74%
- Laceration or abrasion—10%
- Fracture—7%
- Closed head injury—5%
- Other—4%
- Injury rates in collegiate and men’s club teams range
from 13 to 30 per 1000 game hours. - Injury rates for youth rugby (<18-year old) is gener-
ally 8–10 per 1000 game hours (Dexter, 2003;
Marshall and Spencer, 2001).
- Concussion is the most common head or neck
injury with an incidence of 4 per 1000 game hours
and is responsible for approximately 25% of all
injuries in this age group.
•Women’s injury rates occur with less frequency. The
ratio of injures of men to women is 4:3. - The exception may be anterior cruciate ligament
(ACL) injury.
- Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United
Kingdom have published papers on the incidence of
injuries in rugby for varying age and skill levels.
(Quarrie et al, 1996; Chalmers, 1994; Waller et al,
1994; Gerrard, Waller, and Bird, 1994; Quarrie et al,
1995; Bird et al, 1998; Quarrie et al, 2001; Quarrie,
Cantu, and Chalmers, 2002; Garraway and Macleod,
- The above cited either facial trauma or sprains and
strains are the most common injuries in rugby
union.
- In the United States, Wetzler et al published a retro-
spective study of cervical spine injuries that occurred
during the rugby scrum from 1970–1996 (Wetzler
et al, 1998).
1.Total 58% of rugby cervical spine injuries
occurred during the scrum (Wetzler et al, 1998).
- Total 64% of the above injuries occurred during
engagement (Wetzler et al, 1998). - Only 36% of the above occurred when the scrum
collapsed (Wetzler et al, 1998). - Hookers accounted for 78% and props were 19%
of the injured players. Second row players were the
remaining 3% (Wetzler et al, 1998).