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 Japanese researchers randomly selected 28 game videos featuring two
university teams and evaluated a total of 3,970 tackles. In about 10
percent of the tackles, the tackler’s head was incorrectly
positioned in front of the ball carrier.
World Rugby, the sport's governing body, says the tackler must be
positioned behind or to one side of the ball carrier.
“When we did our own comprehensive head injury study in late 2016,
the specialist working group identified technique as a key focus
area, and the tackle law amendment in January was aimed at adjusting
the technique of the tackler to remove the player from the area of
greatest risk,” a World Rugby spokesperson told Reuters Health by
email.
Evidence from the 2016 study showed that 76 percent of all head
injuries occur in the tackle, and the risk of injury for the tackler
is more than two and a half times greater than for the ball-carrier,
with tackle height a contributing factor.
In the current study, the incidence of injury was 69.4 per 1,000
tackles when head positioning was incorrect, falling to 2.7 per
1,000 tackles with correct positioning, Dr. Takayuki Kawasaki of the
Juntendo University Faculty of Medicine in Bunkyo, Tokyo, and
colleagues found.
Injuries were more common when tackles were of shorter duration and
when there was shorter distance covered before contact, the
researchers wrote in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
“This particular study supports our evidence-based position that the
promotion of correct technique in the tackle has a significant
injury-prevention benefits,” the World Rugby spokesperson said.
Despite several interventions to address concussions, neck injuries,
pinched nerves and shoulder injuries that commonly result from rugby
tackles, including changes in technique and exercises aimed at
reducing injury, no formal prevention strategy is in place, the
researchers noted.
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As part of the study, players who tackled with incorrect head
positioning completed a questionnaire, after watching a video of the
tackle within a week following the match. Responses showed that in
nearly 14 percent of incorrect tackles analyzed, the head
positioning was intentional, and 61 percent of players said they
could avoid tackling with incorrect positioning.
“With correct coaching and technique, the wide-ranging benefits of
involvement in the sport far outweigh the risks,” said Dr. Ian
Gibbons, a senior house officer at Royal Surrey County Hospital in
Guildford, who played rugby from age four through medical school.
“This study looked at university rugby, where a lot of people may
not have had the foundations of sound basic tackling technique from
a young age. University rugby can be quite disorganized with
extremely variable levels of coaching quality . . . so these are a
section of players who would be vulnerable to tackling injuries,”
Gibbons, who was not involved in the study, said in an email.
The researchers acknowledge that their small study's results may not
be generalizable to all rugby players. Disparities in the teams’
levels, tactics and coaching methods could also impact the incidence
of injury, they added.
Gibbons noted that while players in the UK play in age categories,
in New Zealand they are divided into weight categories. “Matching
players of the same weight/size at a young age could help ensure a
good technique is mastered,” he said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2AAADNh British Journal of Sports Medicine,
online November 21, 2017.
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