Epidemiology of rugby injuries in a South African high school over a one-year period

Abstract

Adolescent rugby players have a high risk for injuries; however, injury preventionprogrammes have reduced the incidence of injuries amongst this group. The purposeof this retrospective analysis was to evaluate the epidemiology of rugby injuries ata South African high school over one season. There were 99 participants over a totalof 98 matches and the participants were aged between 13 and 18 years. Informationon the type of injuries was documented and the injury proportion (IP), injuryincidence and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated , with 1000 player-hours as the denominator. Ninety-nine injuries were recorded, with a total injuryincidence of 34.1 injuries/1000 player-hours (95% CI 27.4–40.8). Injuries werepredominantly of moderate severity (IP: 25.3%) with a time-loss period of 8 to 28days. Injuries to the head, neck and spine were the most common (IP: 38.4%;incidence: 13.1; 95% CI 8.9–17.2). The findings on the nature of injuries werelargely consistent with current local and international research on high schoolrugby, with the head, neck and spine remaining at a significant risk of injury. It isrecommended that injury prevention programmes further enforce safety guidelinesfor the protection of the head, neck and spine amongst high school athletes