The latest injury surveillance report from the Irish Rugby Injury Surveillance (Iris) project released this week shows a significant number of injured players involved in Irish Schools Senior Cup (SCT) rugby teams end up requiring medical attention.
The survey, which commenced in September of last year, collected injury data across 212 matches from 15 SCT teams for one full season across Leinster, Munster and Connacht.
The figures show 17 per cent of all SCT injuries, or more than one in six, resulted in a player being sent to the accident and emergency department for management, two of those via ambulance transfer.
It further shows that 12 per cent of SCT injuries were referred to a GP doctor, 50 per cent of injuries were referred to a physiotherapist after the game and 14 per cent required at least one day’s absence from school.
The project hopes that by monitoring the information, injury trends may emerge which will aid in the continued implementation of evidence-based injury reduction strategies. Enhancing player welfare is at the heart of the study.
The figures returned also show that there were two injuries for every three school games and that a SCT player would have to play on average 25 matches to sustain one injury.
Iris involves research work by University of Limerick academics across a range of sports, as well as specific expertise in rugby. For the study, researchers also looked at amateur men’s and women’s club rugby.
The club data was compiled across 508 matches from 23 men’s and women’s All-Ireland League clubs.
On average, male players were injured once every 21 matches (it had previously been 17) while female players sustained injuries once every 33 games (previously 25).
There were also variations of the type of injuries sustained by male and female players, with males mostly injuring their head, shoulder and knees. The most prevalent injuries to female players were to the knee, ankle and fingers/hand.
Playing positions at schools level were also relevant factors in injury incidence, with scrumhalf showing to be the safest position at four per cent. The highest number of injuries occurred to openside flankers, who registered 16 per cent, with loosehead props and locks coming in with 12 per cent of the injuries.
The most common injury for SCT players was concussion (22 per cent) followed by ankle sprains (11 per cent) and shoulder sprains (7 per cent).
According to the survey, concussion rates have remained relatively stable over the past few seasons.
Concussions accounted for 12 per cent and 9 per cent of all reported injuries in the men’s and women’s AILs respectively.
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