Synthetic playing surfaces increase the incidence of match injuries in an elite Rugby Union team
Objectives: To examine differences in match injury incidence between three playing surfaces in elite Rugby Union.
Design: Prospective cohort.
Methods: Match injury incidence was assessed in 89 elite Rugby Union players over two-seasons of professional competition (44 matches, 1014 h player exposure). Match injury incidence was assessed on three different playing surfaces; natural grass, hybrid (natural grass combined with approximately 3% synthetic fibres) and fully synthetic (sand and rubber infill). Overall injury incidence, contact and non-contact injury incidence, and the incidence of minor (=7 d lost) and major (=8 d lost) injuries were considered using mixed effect models.
Results: Overall match injury incidence doubled on hybrid and synthetic surfaces compared to natural grass (hybrid: OR = 2.58 [95% CI 1.65-4.03], p < 0.001; synthetic: OR = 2.16 [95% CI 1.07-4.37], p = 0.033). Furthermore, the odds of sustaining a contact injury on a pitch containing any synthetic content also increased compared to natural grass (hybrid: OR = 2.31 [95% CI 1.41-3.78], p = 0.001; synthetic: OR = 2.19 [95% CI 1.00-4.77], p = 0.049). The hybrid surface elicited a four times greater likelihood of non-contact injury incidence compared to natural grass (OR = 4.18 [95% CI 1.16-15.04], p = 0.028). However, the playing surface did not affect the severity of match injuries (all p > 0.05).
Conclusions: The present study suggests that even a small percentage (3%) of synthetic content in the playing surface significantly increases match injury incidence, with an effect seen on both contact and non-contact injury incidence. These findings are important to enable practitioners to be aware of the injury implications of playing matches on hybrid and synthetic pitches.
© Copyright 2022 Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. Elsevier. Julkaistu Tekijä Elsevier. Kaikki oikeudet pidätetään.
Aiheet: | peite urheilutila rugby urheilutilojen suunnittelu ja rakentaminen |
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Aihealueet: | biologiset ja lääketieteelliset tieteet urheilutilat ja urheiluvälineet |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.jsams.2021.08.019 |
Julkaisussa: | Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport |
Julkaistu: |
Elsevier
2022
|
Vuosikerta: | 25 |
Numero: | 2 |
Sivuja: | 134-138 |
Julkaisutyypit: | artikkeli |
Kieli: | englanti (kieli) |
Taso: | kehittynyt |