An analysis of injury rates after the seasonal change in rugby league

Objectives: To determine whether the increase in the incidence of injury found for the first summer season in which rugby league (RL) was played in the UK was repeated in subsequent summer seasons. Design: A retrospective and prospective cohort study design. Setting and Participants: Injuries were recorded from all players who took part in 141 games over 3 summer seasons (1997 to 1999) for 1 professional team. These were compared against rates from previously collected data for 3 earlier winter and 1 summer season. Assessment of Risk Factors: For each injury it was recorded in which season it occurred; how many games or training sessions, if any, were subsequently missed; the type, site and severity of injury. Main Outcome Measures: Injuries were reported as rate per 1000 hours, also broken down into severity according to the number of games missed and whether subsequent training sessions were missed. Results: A sustained increase in injury incidence has been found comparing summer RL over RL played in the winter. There was an increase in injury rates for all sites and types, but not all reached significance. Conclusions: Data collected over 6 seasons indicate a higher risk of sustaining an injury playing summer RL, but the cause may be related to a combination of factors. These may include the ground or weather conditions associated with summer rugby, player characteristics or changes in the game itself and future research needs to investigate these further.