Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34787721›Full record

ArticleSports medicine - open2021

A Case-Control Study of Tackle-Based Head Injury Assessment (HIA) Risk Factors in the National Rugby League.

Andrew J Gardner, Grant L Iverson, Suzi Edwards, Ross Tucker

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Article in Sports medicine - open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
15citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

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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

15 citing papers in PubMed.

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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

4 authors.

Andrew J GardnerPriority Research Centre for Stroke and Brain Injury, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia. Andrew.Gardner@newcastle.edu.au.
Grant L IversonDepartment of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Suzi EdwardsDiscipline of Exercise and Sport Science, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia.
Ross TuckerWorld Rugby, Pty (Ltd), Dublin, Ireland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe tackle is the in-game activity carrying the greatest risk for concussion in rugby. A recent evaluation of tackle characteristics in rugby union precipitated a rule modification to reduce head impact risk during tackles. This study aims to replicate the work conducted in rugby union by examining the association between tackle characteristics and head injury events in professional rugby league.

methodsThere were 446 tackles resulting in a head injury assessment (HIA) and 5,694 tackles that did not result in a head injury from two National Rugby League (NRL) seasons that were reviewed and coded. Tackle height, body position of players, and contact area on an opponent's body were evaluated, with the propensity of each situation to cause an HIA calculated as HIAs per 1000 events.

resultsThe propensity for tacklers to sustain a head injury was 0.99 HIAs per 1000 tackles, 1.74-fold greater than for the ball carrier (0.57 HIAs per 1000 tackles). There was a 3.2-fold higher risk for an HIA when the tackler was upright compared to bent-at-the-waist. The greatest risk of a tackler HIA occurred when head contact was very low (knee, boot) or high (head and elbow). HIAs were most common following head-to-head impacts. The lowest propensity for tackler HIA was found when the tackler's head was in proximity with the ball carrier's torso.

conclusionsThe result of this study replicated the findings in professional rugby union. This has implications for the injury prevention initiatives implemented to reduce HIA risk because the majority of injuries are sustained by the tackler.

Indexed as

ConcussionHead impact eventsHead injury assessmentInjury preventionTackle

Identifiers

PMID34787721
PMCPMC8599744

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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.