Objectives

The aim of this study was to compare the incidence, severity, and burden of injury in starting and replacement players from professional men’s teams of five rugby unions.

Methods

Match injuries of greater than 24 h time-loss (including data on the severity, match quarter, event, body region) and player minutes of match exposure data were collated for all starting and replacement players in the men’s English Premiership, Welsh Pro14 (both 2016/17–2018/19 seasons), and Australian, New Zealand, and South African Super Rugby (all 2016–2018 seasons) teams. Injury incidences and mean injury burden (incidence × days missed) were calculated, and rate ratios (RRs) (95% confidence intervals [CIs]) were used to compare injury incidence and burden between starting (reference group) and replacement players.

Results

Overall injury incidence was not different between starters and replacements for all injuries (RR = 0.98, 95% CI 0.88–1.10), nor for concussions (RR = 0.85; 95% CI 0.66–1.11). Mean injury burden was higher for replacement players (RR = 1.31, 95% CI 1.17–1.46). Replacement injury incidence was lower than the starters in the third (RR = 0.68, 95% CI 0.51–0.92) and fourth (RR = 0.78, 95% CI 0.67–0.92) match quarters. Injury incidence was not different between starters and replacements for any match event or body region, but compared with starters, replacements’ injury burden was higher in lower limbs (RR = 1.24, 95% CI 1.05–1.46) and in the tackled player (RR = 1.30, 95% CI 1.01–1.66).

Conclusion

This study demonstrated a lower injury incidence in replacement players compared with starters in the second half of matches, with a higher injury burden for replacement players due to higher mean injury severity.

中文翻译：

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五个职业男子橄榄球联盟首发和替补球员受伤

目标

本研究的目的是比较五个橄榄球联盟职业男子球队的首发和替补球员的受伤发生率、严重程度和负担。

方法

对男子英超威尔士 Pro14 中所有首发和替补球员的比赛受伤时间超过 24 小时（包括严重程度、比赛季度、事件、身体部位的数据）和球员比赛暴露时间数据进行了整理（均2016/17–2018/19 赛季）以及澳大利亚、新西兰和南非超级橄榄球队（所有 2016–2018 赛季）球队。计算受伤发生率和平均受伤负担（发生率×缺勤天数），并使用比率比（RR）（95％置信区间[CI]）来比较首发（参考组）和替补球员之间的受伤发生率和负担。

结果

首发球员和替补球员之间所有损伤（RR = 0.98，95% CI 0.88–1.10）和脑震荡（RR = 0.85；95% CI 0.66–1.11）的总体损伤发生率没有差异。替补球员的平均伤病负担更高（RR = 1.31，95% CI 1.17–1.46）。第三节（RR = 0.68，95% CI 0.51–0.92）和第四节（RR = 0.78，95% CI 0.67–0.92）比赛季度，替补受伤发生率低于先发球员。在任何比赛项目或身体部位，先发球员和替补球员之间的受伤发生率没有差异，但与先发球员相比，替补球员的下肢受伤负担更高（RR = 1.24，95% CI 1.05–1.46）和被擒抱球员（RR = 1.30，95% CI 1.01–1.66）。

结论

这项研究表明，与下半场比赛的首发球员相比，替补球员的受伤发生率较低，由于平均受伤严重程度较高，替补球员的受伤负担更高。