The Incidence and Propensity of Head Acceleration Events in a Season of Men’s and Women’s English Elite-Level Club Rugby Union Matches

David Allan; James Tooby; Lindsay Starling; Ross Tucker; Éanna Falvey; Danielle Salmon; James Brown; Sam Hudson; Keith Stokes; Ben Jones; Simon Kemp; Patrick O’Halloran; Matt Cross; Gregory Tierney

doi:10.1007/s40279-024-02064-7

The Incidence and Propensity of Head Acceleration Events in a Season of Men’s and Women’s English Elite-Level Club Rugby Union Matches

David Allan, James Tooby, Lindsay Starling, Ross Tucker, Éanna Falvey, Danielle Salmon, James Brown, Sam Hudson, Keith Stokes, Ben Jones, Simon Kemp, Patrick O’Halloran, Matt Cross, Gregory Tierney

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Objectives: To describe and compare the incidence and propensity of head acceleration events (HAEs) using instrumented mouthguards (iMG) by playing position in a season of English elite-level men’s and women’s rugby union matches.

Methods: iMG data were collected for 255 men and 133 women from 1,865 and 807 player-matches, respectively, and synchronised to video-coded match footage. Head peak resultant linear acceleration (PLA) and peak resultant angular acceleration (PAA) were extracted from each HAE. Mean incidence and propensity values were calculated across different recording thresholds for forwards and backs in addition to positional groups (front row, second row, back row, half backs, centres, back three) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) estimated. Significance was determined based on 95% CI not overlapping across recording thresholds.

Results: For both men and women, HAE incidence was twice as high for forwards than backs across the majority of recording thresholds. HAE incidence and propensity were significantly lower in the women’s game compared to the men’s game. Back-row and front-row players had the highest incidence across all HAE thresholds for men’s forwards, while women’s forward positional groups and men’s and women’s back positional groups were similar. Tackles and carries exhibited a greater propensity to result in HAE for forward positional groups and the back three in the men’s game, and back row in the women’s game.

Conclusion: These data offer valuable benchmark and comparative data for future research, HAE mitigation strategies, and management of HAE exposure in elite rugby players. Positional-specific differences in HAE incidence and propensity should be considered in future mitigation strategies.

Original language	English
Number of pages	12
Journal	Sports Medicine
Early online date	26 Jun 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-024-02064-7
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 26 Jun 2024

Data Availability Statement

Anonymised data available upon reasonable request.

Funding

G.T. and B.J. have received research funding from Prevent Biometrics and World Rugby. K.S. has received research funding from World Rugby. L.S., R.T., E.F., D.S. and J.B. are employed by or contracted as consultants to World Rugby. G.T. previously conducted consultancy work for World Rugby. K.S. and S.K. are employed by the Rugby Football Union. S.H. receives funding for his PhD studies from the Rugby Football Union and Premiership Rugby. B.J. is a consultant with Premiership Rugby and the Rugby Football League. M.C. is employed by Premiership Rugby and was previously employed by the Rugby Football Union. P.O.H. has previously been contracted by the Rugby Football Union and is employed by Marker Diagnostics UK Ltd, a company developing salivary biomarker testing for sport related concussion. D.A. and J.T. declare they have no conflicts of interest.

Funders	Funder number
World Rugby and Prevent Biometrics

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation

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10.1007/s40279-024-02064-7Licence: CC BY

Cite this

Allan, D., Tooby, J., Starling, L., Tucker, R., Falvey, É., Salmon, D., Brown, J., Hudson, S., Stokes, K., Jones, B., Kemp, S., O’Halloran, P., Cross, M., & Tierney, G. (2024). The Incidence and Propensity of Head Acceleration Events in a Season of Men’s and Women’s English Elite-Level Club Rugby Union Matches. Sports Medicine . Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-024-02064-7

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title = "The Incidence and Propensity of Head Acceleration Events in a Season of Men{\textquoteright}s and Women{\textquoteright}s English Elite-Level Club Rugby Union Matches",

abstract = "Objectives: To describe and compare the incidence and propensity of head acceleration events (HAEs) using instrumented mouthguards (iMG) by playing position in a season of English elite-level men{\textquoteright}s and women{\textquoteright}s rugby union matches. Methods: iMG data were collected for 255 men and 133 women from 1,865 and 807 player-matches, respectively, and synchronised to video-coded match footage. Head peak resultant linear acceleration (PLA) and peak resultant angular acceleration (PAA) were extracted from each HAE. Mean incidence and propensity values were calculated across different recording thresholds for forwards and backs in addition to positional groups (front row, second row, back row, half backs, centres, back three) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) estimated. Significance was determined based on 95% CI not overlapping across recording thresholds. Results: For both men and women, HAE incidence was twice as high for forwards than backs across the majority of recording thresholds. HAE incidence and propensity were significantly lower in the women{\textquoteright}s game compared to the men{\textquoteright}s game. Back-row and front-row players had the highest incidence across all HAE thresholds for men{\textquoteright}s forwards, while women{\textquoteright}s forward positional groups and men{\textquoteright}s and women{\textquoteright}s back positional groups were similar. Tackles and carries exhibited a greater propensity to result in HAE for forward positional groups and the back three in the men{\textquoteright}s game, and back row in the women{\textquoteright}s game. Conclusion: These data offer valuable benchmark and comparative data for future research, HAE mitigation strategies, and management of HAE exposure in elite rugby players. Positional-specific differences in HAE incidence and propensity should be considered in future mitigation strategies.",

author = "David Allan and James Tooby and Lindsay Starling and Ross Tucker and {\'E}anna Falvey and Danielle Salmon and James Brown and Sam Hudson and Keith Stokes and Ben Jones and Simon Kemp and Patrick O{\textquoteright}Halloran and Matt Cross and Gregory Tierney",

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T1 - The Incidence and Propensity of Head Acceleration Events in a Season of Men’s and Women’s English Elite-Level Club Rugby Union Matches

AU - Allan, David

AU - Tooby, James

AU - Starling, Lindsay

AU - Tucker, Ross

AU - Falvey, Éanna

AU - Salmon, Danielle

AU - Brown, James

AU - Hudson, Sam

AU - Stokes, Keith

AU - Jones, Ben

AU - Kemp, Simon

AU - O’Halloran, Patrick

AU - Cross, Matt

AU - Tierney, Gregory

PY - 2024/6/26

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N2 - Objectives: To describe and compare the incidence and propensity of head acceleration events (HAEs) using instrumented mouthguards (iMG) by playing position in a season of English elite-level men’s and women’s rugby union matches. Methods: iMG data were collected for 255 men and 133 women from 1,865 and 807 player-matches, respectively, and synchronised to video-coded match footage. Head peak resultant linear acceleration (PLA) and peak resultant angular acceleration (PAA) were extracted from each HAE. Mean incidence and propensity values were calculated across different recording thresholds for forwards and backs in addition to positional groups (front row, second row, back row, half backs, centres, back three) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) estimated. Significance was determined based on 95% CI not overlapping across recording thresholds. Results: For both men and women, HAE incidence was twice as high for forwards than backs across the majority of recording thresholds. HAE incidence and propensity were significantly lower in the women’s game compared to the men’s game. Back-row and front-row players had the highest incidence across all HAE thresholds for men’s forwards, while women’s forward positional groups and men’s and women’s back positional groups were similar. Tackles and carries exhibited a greater propensity to result in HAE for forward positional groups and the back three in the men’s game, and back row in the women’s game. Conclusion: These data offer valuable benchmark and comparative data for future research, HAE mitigation strategies, and management of HAE exposure in elite rugby players. Positional-specific differences in HAE incidence and propensity should be considered in future mitigation strategies.

AB - Objectives: To describe and compare the incidence and propensity of head acceleration events (HAEs) using instrumented mouthguards (iMG) by playing position in a season of English elite-level men’s and women’s rugby union matches. Methods: iMG data were collected for 255 men and 133 women from 1,865 and 807 player-matches, respectively, and synchronised to video-coded match footage. Head peak resultant linear acceleration (PLA) and peak resultant angular acceleration (PAA) were extracted from each HAE. Mean incidence and propensity values were calculated across different recording thresholds for forwards and backs in addition to positional groups (front row, second row, back row, half backs, centres, back three) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) estimated. Significance was determined based on 95% CI not overlapping across recording thresholds. Results: For both men and women, HAE incidence was twice as high for forwards than backs across the majority of recording thresholds. HAE incidence and propensity were significantly lower in the women’s game compared to the men’s game. Back-row and front-row players had the highest incidence across all HAE thresholds for men’s forwards, while women’s forward positional groups and men’s and women’s back positional groups were similar. Tackles and carries exhibited a greater propensity to result in HAE for forward positional groups and the back three in the men’s game, and back row in the women’s game. Conclusion: These data offer valuable benchmark and comparative data for future research, HAE mitigation strategies, and management of HAE exposure in elite rugby players. Positional-specific differences in HAE incidence and propensity should be considered in future mitigation strategies.

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The Incidence and Propensity of Head Acceleration Events in a Season of Men’s and Women’s English Elite-Level Club Rugby Union Matches

Abstract

Data Availability Statement

Funding

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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