Cumulative Sport-Related Injuries and Longer Term Impact in Retired Male Elite- and Amateur-Level Rugby Code Athletes and Non-contact Athletes: A Retrospective Study.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Rugby union and rugby league are popular team contact sports, but they bring a high risk of injury. Although previous studies have reported injury occurrence across one or several seasons, none have explored the total number of injuries sustained across an entire career. As the first to do so, the aim of this study was to report on cumulative injuries and their perceived long-term impact in retired rugby code athletes compared to athletes from non-contact sports. METHODS:One hundred and eighty-nine former rugby code athletes (rugby union n?=?145; rugby league n?=?44) and 65 former non-contact athletes were recruited to the UK Rugby Health Project between September 2016 and December 2018. Details on sports participation, sports injuries and concussion history, sports injury-related surgeries, and previous and current health were obtained from a validated, online self-report questionnaire. RESULTS:Former elite rugby code athletes (n?=?83) reported more total injuries per player (median 39, IQR 35) than former amateur rugby code athletes (n?=?106; median 23, IQR 30; p?=?0.014) and non-contact sports athletes (n?=?65; median 7.5, IQR 15; p?

SUBMITTER: Hind K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7575474 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature