Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28361327›Full record

ArticleSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2017

How Much Rugby is Too Much? A Seven-Season Prospective Cohort Study of Match Exposure and Injury Risk in Professional Rugby Union Players.

Sean Williams, Grant Trewartha, Simon P T Kemp, John H M Brooks, Colin W Fuller, Aileen E Taylor, Matthew J Cross, Gavin Shaddick, Keith A Stokes

Open access · hybridAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
26citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
4.4field-weighted citation impact, top 6% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

26 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 56 citations in OpenAlex.

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  17. The Epidemiology of Injuries in Spanish Rugby Union División de Honor.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022
    Observational
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Sean WilliamsDepartment for Health, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK. s.williams@bath.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1460-0085
Grant TrewarthaDepartment for Health, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK.
Simon P T KempRugby Football Union, Twickenham, UK.
John H M BrooksThe Population Health Research Institute, St. George's University of London, London, UK.
Colin W FullerColin Fuller Consultancy, Sutton Bonington, UK.
Aileen E TaylorKarabati Limited, Nottingham, UK.
Matthew J CrossDepartment for Health, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK.
Gavin ShaddickDepartment of Mathematical Sciences, University of Bath, Bath, UK.
Keith A StokesDepartment for Health, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK.
University of Bath · GBThe Football Association · GBSt George's, University of London · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionNumerous studies have documented the incidence and nature of injuries in professional rugby union, but few have identified specific risk factors for injury in this population using appropriate statistical methods. In particular, little is known about the role of previous short-term or longer-term match exposures in current injury risk in this setting.

objectivesOur objective was to investigate the influence that match exposure has upon injury risk in rugby union.

methodWe conducted a seven-season (2006/7-2012/13) prospective cohort study of time-loss injuries in 1253 English premiership professional players. Players' 12-month match exposure (number of matches a player was involved in for ≥20 min in the preceding 12 months) and 1-month match exposure (number of full-game equivalent [FGE] matches in preceding 30 days) were assessed as risk factors for injury using a nested frailty model and magnitude-based inferences.

resultsThe 12-month match exposure was associated with injury risk in a non-linear fashion; players who had been involved in fewer than ≈15 or more than ≈35 matches over the preceding 12-month period were more susceptible to injury. Monthly match exposure was linearly associated with injury risk (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.14 per 2 standard deviation [3.2 FGE] increase, 90% confidence interval [CI] 1.08-1.20; likely harmful), although this effect was substantially attenuated for players in the upper quartile for 12-month match exposures (>28 matches).

conclusionA player's accumulated (12-month) and recent (1-month) match exposure substantially influences their current injury risk. Careful attention should be paid to planning the workloads and monitoring the responses of players involved in: (1) a high (>≈35) number of matches in the previous year, (2) a low (<≈15) number of matches in the previous year, and (3) a low-moderate number of matches in previous year but who have played intensively in the recent past. These findings make a major contribution to evidence-based policy decisions regarding match workload limits in professional rugby union.

Indexed as

Athletic InjuriesBayes TheoremFootballHumansIncidenceProspective StudiesSeasonsUnited KingdomFrailty ModelInjury RiskRugby UnionRugby Union PlayerShared Frailty Model

Identifiers

PMID28361327
PMCPMC5633632
OpenAlexW2603179240

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.