ArticleBritish journal of sports medicine2018
Tackler's head position relative to the ball carrier is highly correlated with head and neck injuries in rugby.
Article in British journal of sports medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Biomechanics of Rugby Tackle Techniques in Youth and Adult Players: A Systematic Review of Age-Specific Injury Risk and Performance Implications.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Pooled it
- Tackle-Based Head Injury Assessment (HIA) Risk Factors in the National Rugby League: Does the Ball Carrier's Evasion Technique or the Tackler's Head Position Influence HIA Risk?European journal of sport science · 2026Article
- Neuronal and Glial Biomarkers in Urine of Athletes with Different Risks of Head Trauma to Monitor Sports-Related Concussions.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Article
- Decoding the Tackle: Using a Machine Learning Approach to Understand Direct Head Contact Events in Elite Women's Rugby.European journal of sport science · 2025Article
- Associations of Tackling Characteristics, Player Position, and Head Contact Risk During Game Play in College Football.Journal of athletic training · 2025Article
- Tackle characteristics and suspected concussion: recommendations to improve high school girls' rugby tackle safety.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2025Article
- Macular Pigment Carotenoid Supplementation for the Preservation of Visual Structure and Function Following a Collegiate Rugby Season.Eye and brain · 2025Article
- An Extended Neck Position is Likely to Produce Cervical Spine Injuries Through Buckling in Accidental Head-First Impacts During Rugby Tackling.Annals of biomedical engineering · 2024Article
- At-Risk Tackling Techniques and Effectiveness in English Premiership Rugby.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2024Article
- Lower limb balance, ankle dorsiflexion, orofacial tissue pressure, and occlusal force of rugby players.Sports medicine and health science · 2024Article
- Risk Factors for Concussion in Under 18, Under 22 and Professional Men's Rugby Union: A Video Analysis of 14,809 Tackles.Sports medicine - open · 2023Article
- The Most Dangerous Game: A Review of Head and Neck Injuries in American Football and Rugby.Craniomaxillofacial trauma & reconstruction · 2023Article
- Development of a Novel Coaching Platform to Improve Tackle Technique in Youth Rugby Players: A Proof of Concept.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- How does the situation before a tackle influence a tackler's head placement in rugby union?: application of the decision tree analysis.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2021Article
- Lay of the land: narrative synthesis of tackle research in rugby union and rugby sevens.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo characterise the tackler's head position during one-on-one tackling in rugby and to determine the incidence of head, neck and shoulder injuries through analysis of game videos, injury records and a questionnaire completed by the tacklers themselves.
methodsWe randomly selected 28 game videos featuring two university teams in competitions held in 2015 and 2016. Tackles were categorised according to tackler's head position. The 'pre-contact phase' was defined; its duration and the number of steps taken by the ball carrier prior to a tackle were evaluated.
resultsIn total, 3970 tackles, including 317 (8.0%) with the tackler's head incorrectly positioned (ie, in front of the ball carrier) were examined. Thirty-two head, neck or shoulder injuries occurred for an injury incidence of 0.8% (32/3970). The incidence of injury in tackles with incorrect head positioning was 69.4/1000 tackles; the injury incidence with correct head positioning (ie, behind or to one side of the ball carrier) was 2.7/1000 tackles. Concussions, neck injuries, 'stingers' and nasal fractures occurred significantly more often during tackles with incorrect head positioning than during tackles with correct head positioning. Significantly fewer steps were taken before tackles with incorrect head positioning that resulted in injury than before tackles that did not result in injury.
conclusionTackling with incorrect head position relative to the ball carrier resulted in a significantly higher incidence of concussions, neck injuries, stingers and nasal fractures than tackling with correct head position. Tackles with shorter duration and distance before contact resulted in more injuries.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.