Influence of preseason training, fitness, and existing injury on subsequent rugby injury

Objectives-To examine the influence of preseason fitness, existing injury, and preseason rugby training on subsequent injury. Methods-Players were eligible for the survey if they were a member of a Sco ttish Rugby Union (SRU) affiliated rugby club in the Border Reivers Distric t of the SRU during the 1997-1998 season. A total of 803 (84%) players from 22 (88%) participating clubs provided details of rugby training, injuries sustained, and physical activity undertaken during the 16 week summer perio d (26 April to 16 August 1997) and their perceived fitness before the start of the season. Observers at participating clubs reported all injury episod es occurring to club players throughout the 1997-1998 season. Results-One fifth of players did not attend any rugby training during the 1 6 week summer period; the remainder attended a median of 14 sessions. Throu ghout the 1997-1998 season, 675 injury episodes occurred to 423 (53%) playe rs during training or in matches. After adjustment for whether players held a professional contract or were amateurs, Cox regression showed a 3.9% rel ative increase (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.9 to 5.9%) in the risk of in jury over the season for each additional preseason training week attended, and a 61% relative increase (95% CI 32 to 97%) for those players who had be en injured or were carrying an injury at the end of the previous season. Conclusions-Injury risk is more likely to be related to rugby training (typ e of activities undertaken in rugby training, or personalities and characte ristics of players undertaking training more frequently) than to overall pl ayer fitness. Players who were injured at the end of the previous season we re more likely to be injured in the following season. This may be because t hey do not allow previous injuries to heal sufficiently before returning to the game, or the intensity of their participation may increase their risk of injury.