Observational studyEuropean journal of sport science2026
Wearing Regulation Soft-Padded Headgear Does Not Reduce the Risk of Head Injuries in Professional Men's Rugby Players: An Observational Cohort Study.
Observational study in European journal of sport science, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Wearing Regulation Soft-Padded Headgear Does Not Reduce the Risk of Head Injuries in Professional Men's Rugby Players: An Observational Cohort Study.European journal of sport science · 2026Observational
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
There is no empirical evidence that soft-padded headgear is protective against head injury risk in rugby. However, studies that have assessed purported protective effects have not accounted for rates of contact. The aim of this study was to compare head injury rates while considering tackle-event exposure in players with and without headgear. In the 2018 and 2019 professional men's SuperRugby season, video analysts recorded headgear use, playing position, match time and head injury assessments (proxy for head injury risk) for each player. Tackle-event involvements for each player were obtained from third-party video analysis provider. Tackle-related head injury rates were calculated per 1000 h (incidence) and per 1000 tackle-events (propensity), and compared between headgear and non-headgear wearers using incidence rate ratios (IRRs) with 95% confidence intervals and Poisson regression models. Players wearing headgear were involved in more tackles per match than players without headgear (IRR 1.07, 95% CI 1.05-1.09). Head injury incidence (IRR: 1.78 95% CI: 1.11-2.70) and propensity (IRR: 1.66 95% CI: 1.04-2.52) were higher in players wearing headgear. However, statistical models found no difference in this risk between positional groups. A lack of protective effect is consistent with previous studies and could be explained by World Rugby's headgear design regulations while increased risk may be a result of greater injury susceptibility. As World Rugby's headgear regulations change and further advancements in headgear is made, it is important to continue to examine their effect on head injury risk at an individual level.
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Registered trials
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