Training injury incidence in an amateur women's rugby union team in New Zealand over two consecutive seasons

Objectives

To describe the training injury incidence in amateur women's rugby union in New Zealand over two consecutive seasons.

Design

A prospective cohort observational study

Methods: A total of 69 amateur women's rugby 15s team players were observed. Training exposure and training injury incidence were calculated.

Results

The 38 training injuries resulted in a total injury incidence of 11.4 (8.3-15.6) per 1,000 training-hours. There were 12 injuries that resulted in a time-loss injury incidence of 3.6 (95% CI: 2.0-6.3) per 1,000 training-hours. Forwards recorded more total (RR: 1.8 [95% CI: 0.9-3.5]; p = 0.0516) and time-loss (RR: 2.0 [95% CI: 0.6-6.6]; p = 0.2482) injuries than Backs. The tackle was the most common injury cause for total (3.0 [95% CI: 1.6-5.6] per 1,000 training-hours.) injuries, but collisions (1.5 [95% CI: 0.6-3.6] per 1,000 training-hours.) with the ground or another person were the most common cause for time-loss injuries. The training injuries occurred most often to the lower limb and during the latter part of training sessions. These injuries were mostly minor in nature resulting in minimal time-loss away from training.

Discussion

The time-loss injury incidence (3.6 per 1,000 training-hours.) for the amateur women's rugby 15s team players was higher than that reported for National (1.2 per 1,000 training-hours.) and Rugby World Cup for women (0.2 to 3.0 per 1,000 training-hours.) competitions.

Conclusion

The training injury incidence in amateur women's rugby union in New Zealand was higher than that reported for national and international rugby union injury incidences.