Incidence of injuries and sport specific physical fitness of Thai national women’s rugby sevens players.

Abstract

Background : Rugby sevens is a collision sport with high risk of injury.

Research design : Prospective descriptive study.

Setting : Training field at Vajiravudh College, competition fields at Hong Kong and the People’s Republic of China.

Methods : Eighteen Thai national women’s rugby sevens players were studied for incidence of injuries and physical fitness during 8 month period.

Results : A total of 178 injuries = 37.03 injuries/ 1000 hours of exposure were recorded: 110 = 23.01 per 1000 training hours, and 68 = 2602.37 per 1000 match hours. During training, the most common diagnoses were sprain; most injuries located in the thigh; and most were from overuse running. During matches, the most injuries were contusion/ haematoma; the common sites were thigh and knee; and most were injured from tackle. Almost all injuries were of mild degree, but shoulder dislocation and ACL injury were also found. Most players have high level of anaerobic performance and sport specific physical fitness, whereas their aerobic capacity was poor. The correlation between fitness and injury rate could not be demonstrated.

Conclusion : Thai national women’s rugby sevens players had high incidence of injuries. More aerobic activities should be added in the training program.