To ascertain current injury surveillance and player education practices in Irish amateur rugby union.
Cross-sectional survey.
Amateur rugby clubs in Ireland.
Medical professionals and rugby coaches of the top 58 amateur rugby clubs in Ireland.
The survey investigated the current injury and training load monitoring practices in operation in Irish amateur rugby. It also explored whether player education sessions regarding injury prevention and concussion recognition and management were conducted in these clubs.
Forty-four clubs completed the survey, giving an overall response rate of 76%. Ninety-one percent of the responding clubs monitored injuries. Sixty-four percent of these clubs operated return to play protocols for all injuries, while 36% operated return to play protocols for concussion only. Injury prevention education was conducted by 71% of these clubs and 82% educated players on concussion recognition and management.
Implementing effective injury monitoring strategies in both amateur and professional sport settings may aid in minimizing injury risk. In Ireland, 91% of the responding clubs monitored injuries and 71% educated players on injury prevention. By implementing one centralized injury surveillance system for Irish amateur rugby, injury trends can be effectively monitored and used to guide prevention strategies.
History
Publication
Physical Therapy in Sport;23, pp. 27-32
Publisher
Elsevier
Note
peer-reviewed
Other Funding information
Irish Rugby Football Union
Rights
This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Physical Therapy in Sport Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Physical Therapy in Sport Volume 33, September 2018, Pages 27-32, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ptsp.2018.06.008