@article{ref1,
title="Tackling concussion in professional rugby union: a case-control study of tackle-based risk factors and recommendations for primary prevention",
journal="British journal of sports medicine",
year="2019",
author="Cross, Matthew J. and Tucker, Ross and Raftery, Martin and Hester, Ben and Williams, Sean and Stokes, Keith A. and Ranson, Craig and Mathema, Prav and Kemp, Simon",
volume="53",
number="16",
pages="1021-1025",
abstract="BACKGROUND/AIM: Concussion, the most common injury in professional rugby union, occurs most commonly during the tackle. Thus, we investigated the association between tackle characteristics and concussion. <br><br>METHODS: 182 video clips of tackles leading to clinically diagnosed concussion and 4619 tackles that did not were coded across three professional rugby union competitions. A variable selection process was undertaken to identify the most important variables for interpretation. A multivariate generalised linear model was used to model the association between retained variables and concussion risk. Magnitude-based inferences provided an interpretation of the real-world relevance of the outcomes. <br><br>RESULTS: The four retained variables were: accelerating player, tackler speed, head contact type and tackle type. Overall, 70% of concussions occurred to the tackler and 30% to the ball carrier. There was a higher risk of concussion if the tackler accelerated into the tackle (OR: 2.49, 95% CI 1.70 to 3.64) or the tackler was moving at high speed (OR: 2.64, 95% CI 1.92 to 3.63). Head contact with the opposing player's head (OR: 39.9, 95% CI 22.2 to 71.1) resulted in a substantially greater risk of concussion compared with all other head contact locations. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Interventions that reduce the speed and acceleration of the tackler and reduce exposure to head-to-head contact would likely reduce concussion risk in professional rugby union.<br><br>© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0306-3674",
doi="10.1136/bjsports-2017-097912",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2017-097912"
}