Kiwi research finds tackling key to injury for rugby players
The tackle is the most dangerous facet of play in rugby union, accounting for up to 58 percent of all game-related injuries, according to research carried out by AUT University PhD researcher Ken Quarrie in conjunction with the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) and ACC.
Earlier studies run by Quarrie, which looked at other contact areas of rugby such as the scrum, have resulted in improved game safety after being fed into the NZRU’s RugbySmart injury prevention programme and Quarrie expects this study to follow suit.
“Our focus has always been player safety from the grassroots up,” he says. “Further education of players around safe tackling and slight changes to the law around the height of the tackle are good strategies for reducing rugby injuries.”
NZRU General Manager Professional Rugby Neil Sorensen says that injury prevention is an important issue for any international rugby side and research plays a pivotal role in providing solutions.
“It is important to find the best balance between the frequency and severity of injuries that players sustain, with their desire to keep the full-contact nature of the game.”
Study results show the most common tackles in rugby are responsible for the greatest number of injuries, but certain types of tackle carry a higher degree of risk.
Injuries were most frequently the result of high or middle tackles from the front or the side, but the rate of injury per tackle was higher for tackles from behind than from the front or side.
The use of video analysis allowed researchers to identify where poor technique going into a tackle was a contributing factor to an injury occurring.
“Dropping the chin forward into the other player increased the risk of head and/or neck injury due to either direct impact to the head or hyperflexion of the cervical spine,” says Quarrie.
More than 40 percent of these types of injuries are caused by head-to-head player contact.
“Education measures that focus on teaching players to be aware of the location of other players as they move into the tackle situation may help reduce the risk of this type of injury.”
Ball carriers were at the highest risk for tackles to the head-neck region, whereas tacklers were most at risk when making low tackles.
The impact of the tackle was the most common cause of injury, and the head was the most common site.
Quarrie went on to say that teaching ball carriers to go to ground immediately when they feel the weight of the tackler may be a means of reducing the risk of severe knee, lower leg and ankle injuries.
“The trade-off for players and coaches is that of gaining a meter or two of field position from a particular run verses having a player unavailable through injury for an extended period.”
Higher movement speeds resulted in higher injury rates and replacements and Quarrie says these findings have implications for the lawmakers of the game.
“The challenge will be implementing strategies for reducing tackle injuries without radically changing the contact nature of the sport.
“We recognise that injuries happen from time to time but we will continue to try and eliminate neck and spinal injuries through the adoption of safer rugby practices.”
The recent study, Tackle Injuries in Professional Rugby Union looked at all 140 249 tackles in 434 professional matches in which New Zealand teams competed from 2003 - 2005. Unique to this study was the use of video footage, alongside medical data which allowed researchers to record height and direction of tackle on the ball carrier, speed of tackler, and speed of ball carrier. Injuries were coded for various characteristics, including whether the tackler or ball carrier required replacement or only on-field assessment.
The research findings of this paper have been published internationally in the American Journal of Sports Medicine.
Notes to editors
The RugbySmart programme began in 2000 as a partnership between ACC and the NZRU, and Quarrie was responsible for managing the development and delivery of the content of the programme on behalf of the NZRU from 2000 to 2007.
Quarrie’s previous research paper Effect of nationwide injury prevention programme on serious spinal injuries in New Zealand rugby union, which was published in the British Medical Journal in 2007, reported a reduction in scrum-related spinal injuries resulting in permanent disability of 89 percent with respect to previous rates over the five years following the introduction of RugbySmart.
For further information please contact:
Ken Quarrie, Senior Scientist, Injury Prevention & Performance, NZRU
027 2701914
Georgina Hammond, Communications Manager, AUT University
09 921 9462 / 021 633 272 / georgina.hammond@aut.ac.nz
Juli Clausen, Media Manager NZRU
04 474 7276 / 0275 707045