The record of injured gamers within the Six Nations Championship is, as soon as once more, lengthy. Unsurprising you could say, given the bodily nature of the game. That’s typically cited as one of many parts that captivates followers and attracts gamers.
Nevertheless, there’s a advantageous line between the attractive brutality of the sport and the potential well being implications of damage. So we got down to uncover how vital pre-season coaching is for stopping rugby accidents in the course of the aggressive season.
We selected this as our focus because the sport’s governing our bodies throughout the globe have prioritised research which consider damage prevention over latest years. Much of this analysis has assessed the dangers of damage throughout aggressive matches.
Tackling
Recent information reviews have drawn consideration to the risks of concussion in rugby. Some 43% of accidents sustained on the rugby pitch occur because of tackling. Based on such proof, World Rugby intends to decrease the authorized tackling peak at elite stage worldwide within the coming years to cut back the danger of head accidents within the sport.
But what about accidents from non-contact play resembling hamstring, calf or thigh strains? Should makes an attempt be made to forestall these forms of accidents too? The mounting casualty record because the starting of the 2023 Six Nations season suggests one thing must be completed.
Many rugby gamers can be acquainted with the ache and bodily struggling of the pre-season. The main goal of this era of intensive coaching is to enhance efficiency forward of the aggressive season. But one other vital goal is to cut back the danger of damage. It subsequently shocked us to find that not a lot analysis had been completed wanting on the impression of the pre-season interval on avoidable non-contact accidents.
To sort out this subject ourselves, we recorded and categorized the non-contact accidents which occurred throughout pre-season coaching and matches throughout three aggressive seasons in a semi-professional regional males’s rugby union squad. We additionally analysed the effort and time of each coaching session and match for every participant over the identical interval. That gave us an perception into of every member of the group.
We discovered {that a} lack of coaching constructed up in the course of the pre-season interval could result in an elevated threat of damage by the point the aggressive season comes round.
Our analysis suggests the gamers who accrued the bottom quantities of pre-season coaching have been almost 5 occasions as prone to undergo a non-contact damage in the course of the aggressive season than those that had undertaken extra intensive pre-season coaching.
Further evaluation revealed these gamers with low pre-season coaching ranges, who have been then uncovered to a rise in coaching early within the season, have been 6.5 occasions extra prone to undergo an damage within the aggressive season. That was notably pronounced if they’d been injured in the course of the earlier season.
Our findings construct on the established idea that an excessive amount of coaching will increase damage threat. Our analysis means that not sufficient coaching in the course of the pre-season results in better threat of non-contact damage in the course of the aggressive season. It additionally seems from our work that if coaches then prescribe extra coaching within the early aggressive season to compensate for the dearth of coaching in pre-season, the danger of damage could enhance additional.
Coaching
Since modifications to rugby legal guidelines will not be prone to forestall non-contact accidents, coaches may undertake different methods to cut back the danger to gamers.
Based on our findings, we recommend that one method to assist forestall non-contact accidents in rugby union, could be the continued observe of monitoring the coaching of gamers extra carefully. And explicit consideration would have to be paid to the quantity of coaching any given participant had constructed up in the course of the pre-season interval. Ensuring this stage of research happens may assist coaches and medical groups to find out whether or not a participant is sufficiently ready for the calls for of the aggressive season.
Clearly, we’re by no means going to eradicate the danger of accidents in rugby utterly. Sports accidents are advanced and there are various associated threat components past coaching alone. So the prevention of damage must take a holistic method. Such strategies could embody useful motion screening, which analyses imbalances in mobility and stability. This may very well be coupled with different preventative methods resembling stability coaching and whole-body resistance coaching. Plyometric coaching would assist to construct muscle energy too. And after all, recording particular person gamers’ coaching in the course of the pre-season may additionally play a major position.
What is vital is that stopping accidents is prioritised to make sure participant welfare. It would additionally assist to minimise the non-public and monetary value of taking part in sport.
Julian Owen has obtained analysis funding from World Rugby. This challenge was a part of a scholarship grant joint funded by the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol and Bangor University.
Seren Evans doesn’t work for, seek the advice of, personal shares in or obtain funding from any firm or organisation that may profit from this text, and has disclosed no related affiliations past their tutorial appointment.
