Citation

Gabb N, Trewartha G, Kemp S, Stokes K. Br. J. Sports Med. 2014; 48(7): 596-597.

Affiliation

University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, BMJ Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1136/bjsports-2014-093494.100

PMID

24620141

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Little is known about injury patterns in women's rugby sevens. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the incidence of match and training injuries sustained by elite female rugby sevens players during preparation for and during the world cup. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: England Women's Rugby Sevens World Cup Squad. PARTICIPANTS: 17 members of the England Women's Rugby Sevens World Cup training squad. INDEPENDENT VARIABLES: Match and training exposure. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: Match and training injury incidence and severity. RESULTS: 34 time-loss injuries (12 match and 22 training) were recorded during 2308 hours of exposure (64 hours match-play and 2244 hours training). Match and training injury incidence rates were 187/1000 hours (95% CI: 106-330) and 10/1000 hours (95% CI: 7-15), respectively. Mean severity of match injuries was 33 days (median=14 days), and 40 days (median=15 days) for training injuries. Typically, match injuries were acute onset (10 out of 12 injuries; 83%) and occurred during contact (8 out of 12; 67%). In contrast, 15 out of 22 (68%) training injuries were non-contact with an associated injury burden of 369 days absence per 1000 training hours. Over two thirds of these non-contact injuries were associated with running and the remainder recorded as chronic injuries. CONCLUSIONS: Match injury incidence in this small cohort was higher than in women's 15s (36/1000 hours) (Taylor et al., 2011) and in men's sevens (106/1000 hours) (Fuller et al., 2010). In addition, training injury incidence rate is much higher than has been reported previously. Given that a total of 827 days were lost to non-contact training injuries, a specific focus on injury reduction in this context could have a major impact on player availability.

Language: en