Rugby Science Update 5
Individuals adopting Activate had a significantly lower training injury incidence than non-adopters, and lower match incidence and burden. Players completing Activate three times per week had significantly lower training and match incidence compared with those with low (<1 session) weekly adherence. Two-thirds of teams adopted Activate, with most completing Acti- vate three times per week. However, Activate was often not implemented as intended, with teams not using whole phases or failing to progress the programme.
The full text article is free to download in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Physical and Technical Demands and Preparatory Strategies in Female Field Collision Sports: A Scoping Review
Women’s participation in field collision sports is growing worldwide. Scoping reviews provide an overview of scientific literature in a developing area to support practitioners, policy, and research priorities. The aim of this study was to explore the published research and synthesise information on the physical and technical demands and preparation strategies of female field collision sports. 43 studies met the inclusion criteria. Physical demands were the most highly investigated (n=24), followed by technical demands (n-18), tactical considerations (n=8) and preparatory strategies (n=1). The key themes embody a holistic model contributing to both performance and injury prevention outcomes in the context of female field collision sports. Findings suggest a gender data gap across all themes and a low evidence base to inform those preparing female athletes for match demands. Given the physical and technical differences in match-demands the review findings do not support the generalisation of male-derived training data to female athletes.
The full text article is published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine.
Players’, parents’ and staffs’ perceptions of injury prevention exercise programmes in youth rugby union
In youth rugby union, there is a belief that the risk of injury is high and that injuries can be prevented; however, successful implementation of injury prevention exercise programmes in ball sports is limited by barriers such as lack of time, resources and player or staff attitude and motivation. Stakeholders’ attitudes and beliefs regarding injury risk and prevention are important to understand, as they play a role in the adoption of injury prevention exercise programmes. This study aimed to describe staff members’, players’ and parents’ knowledge and perceptions of injury risk, injury severity and injury prevention in youth rugby union in Australia and explore facilitators and barriers to performing an injury prevention exercise programme. Staff, parents and players agree that the risk of injury is high, that injuries can be serious and that preventing injury is important. Allied health staff such as strength and conditioning coaches should be considered a viable alternative to coaches where available, although coaches remain key influencers and leaders in this setting. Barrier themes to performing an injury prevention exercise programme included poor attitude or motivation of the players, limitations related to the programme, poor attitude or motivation of staff, and lack of leadership in implementation of the programme. Facilitators to performing an injury prevention exercise programme included positive behaviour change through the use of structure and routine, strong leadership displayed by coaches and/or administration with the creation of rules or policy, leadership through positive role modelling, positive attitude of the players, and positive attitude of the staff.
This article is open-access in BMJ Open Sport and Exercise Medicine.
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