Whilst substantial efforts have been made in tackle safety resource development, few have been rigorously evaluated, and there is variation in the number, type, focus and implementation. Future tackle safety efforts should address key areas such as law variations, contact training loads, return-to-c …

To establish match injury rates, characteristics, severity, burden, and associated risk factors in South African provincial women rugby players.A secondary data analysis of injury data collected pr...

Background Head acceleration events (HAEs) are an increasing concern in collision sports owing to potential negative health outcomes. Objectives The objective of this study is to describe the probabilities of HAEs in tackles of differing heights and body positions in elite men’s and women’s rugby union. Methods Instrumented mouthguards (iMGs) were worn in men’s (n = 24 teams, 508 players, 782 observations) and women’s (n = 26 teams, 350 players, 1080 observations) rugby union matches. Tackle height (i.e. point of contact on ball-carrier) and body positions of tacklers and ball-carriers were labelled for all tackles in which a player wore an iMG. HAEs from the initial impact were identified. Mean player, tackler and ball-carrier exceedance probabilities for various peak linear and angular acceleration thresholds were estimated from ordinal mixed-effects models. Results Contact with ball-carriers’ head/neck resulted in the highest mean HAE probabilities for both sexes. The probability of an HAE to the ball-carrier decreased as tackle height lowered. The highest probability for the tackler was initial contact to the ball-carriers upper leg. Body position influenced the probability of HAEs, with falling/diving ball-carriers resulting in higher mean probabilities. When a player, regardless of role, was bent-at-waist, elevated HAE probabilities were observed in men’s competitions. Women’s data demonstrated similar probabilities of an HAE for all body positions. Conclusions Initial contact to the ball-carrier’s head/neck had the highest chance of an HAE, whilst role-specific differences are apparent for different tackle heights and body positions. Future player-welfare strategies targeting contact events should therefore consider HAE mechanisms along with current literature.

To (1) systematically review the literature to identify which match-related risk factors and mechanisms of rugby tackle events result in musculoskeletal injury, concussion, head injury assessments, an...

Objective: Quantifying and managing the matches and training loads of players is important for injury prevention. As rugby union is a full-contact sport and ...

To (1) systematically review the literature to identify which match-related risk factors and mechanisms of rugby tackle events result in musculoskeletal injury, concussion, head injury assessments, an...

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Researchers at Edinburgh University used video analysis to study tackles from 60 men's community matches in Scotland.

The Health and Human Services secretary said a conclusion would be in hand by September, setting off alarms. But he may have been mistaken on the date.

Interest in predicting sports match outcomes has grown significantly, driven by advancements in machine learning techniques and widespread adoption. H…

American football has a high rate of concussion and subconcussive head impacts resulting from tackling collisions. A tackle must be properly executed to maximize safety for involved athletes. The s...

Determining whether repetitive head impacts (RHI) cause the development of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)-neuropathological change (NC) and whether pathological changes cause clinical syndrome...

‪New Zealand Rugby‬ - ‪‪Cited by 6,077‬‬ - ‪rugby union‬ - ‪performance analysis‬ - ‪injury epidemiology‬ - ‪injury prevention‬

Objectives Data on sport and physical activity (PA) injury risk can guide intervention and prevention efforts. However, there are limited national-level data, and no estimates for England or Wales. Th...