ArticleJournal of athletic training2018
Epidemiology of Injury in Elite English Schoolboy Rugby Union: A 3-Year Study Comparing Different Competitions.
Article in Journal of athletic training, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Shoulder injuries in rugby union: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Archives of orthopaedic and trauma surgery · 2026Pooled it
- Injury Rates, Mechanisms, Risk Factors and Prevention Strategies in Youth Rugby Union: What's All the Ruck-Us About? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2023Pooled it
- Epidemiology of rugby injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2026Article
- Fourteen-year analysis of rugby injuries in a pediatric emergency department.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2025Article
- Assessing Head Acceleration Events in Female Community Rugby Union Players: A Cohort Study Using Instrumented Mouthguards.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2025Observational
- Lower limb balance, ankle dorsiflexion, orofacial tissue pressure, and occlusal force of rugby players.Sports medicine and health science · 2024Article
- Match injuries in English schoolboy rugby union.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2024Article
- Epidemiology of Rugby-Related Injuries Presenting to the Emergency Department: A 10-Year Review.Cureus · 2023Article
- The Epidemiology of Youth Sport-Related Shoulder Injuries: A Systematic Review.Translational sports medicine · 2022Review
- Epidemiology of Shoulder Injuries in Schoolboy Rugby Union in Ireland.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2021Article
- Applied Sport Science for Male Age-Grade Rugby Union in England.Sports medicine - open · 2020Review
- Lower limb MSK injuries among school-aged rugby and football players: a systematic review.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2020Review
- Lay of the land: narrative synthesis of tackle research in rugby union and rugby sevens.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2020Review
- Quantitative and qualitative analysis of head and body impacts in American 7v7 non-tackle football.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2020Article
- Injury Trends for School Rugby Union in Ireland: The Need for Position-specific Injury-prevention Programs.Sports healthArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
contextInjury risks in professional and community rugby union have been extensively described; however, less is known about injury epidemiology at the schoolboy level.
objectiveTo investigate the injury risk in English schoolboy rugby union matches, comparing an elite competition (Achieving Academic and Sporting Excellence [AASE]) with subelite matches (non-AASE).
designRetrospective cohort study.
settingRugby union academy, consisting of 16- to 19-year-old males, based at an elite sports college in England. PATIENTS OR OTHER
participantsA total of 132 participants (mean age = 17.5 years) were included in the study; 64 athletes experienced a total of 103 time-loss injuries over a 3-season period (2012-2015). All injuries were assessed and recorded by the team therapist using consensus statement definitions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Injury characteristics were recorded and compared between groups. Primary outcome measures were injury incidence (per 1000 h match exposure) and injury burden (days absent/1000 h), and rate ratios and 95% confidence intervals are presented throughout.
resultsA total of 131 matches were played (34 AASE, 97 non-AASE) and a total of 103 injuries were recorded (47 AASE, 56 non-AASE). The injury incidence in AASE matches (77/1000 h) was greater than in non-AASE matches (34/1000 h). The concussion incidence in AASE matches (20/1000 h) was 5 times that of non-AASE matches (4/1000 h). The head/face had the highest injury incidence for a specific location, followed by the shoulder region (AASE = 19/1000 h, non-AASE = 5/1000 h), which had the greatest injury burden (553/1000 h and 105/1000 h, respectively) for any specific body location. More than 50% of all injuries were associated with tackles.
conclusionsA much greater incidence of all injuries occurred at the highest level of competition, and the concussion incidence was greater than that reported in any previously published study of youth rugby. Given the high incidence and burden of concussions and shoulder injuries, prevention and management deserve specific focus.
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