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The use of artificial playing surfaces in professional rugby union is growing, but their effect on the injury risk profile remains unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of playing surface on match injury risk in men's professional rugby in England. Six seasons of injury data (2013/14–2018/19) were collected from 15 professional English, men's rugby teams participating in domestic and European competition. The incidence, severity, and burden of match injuries were compared across playing surfaces. The dataset included 3351 injuries from a combined European and domestic data set (separated in to 2 categories; artificial and natural/hybrid surfaces) and 2675 injuries from a domestic only dataset (separated into 3 categories; artificial, hybrid, and natural surfaces). There were no differences in incidence rates between surface types on combined European and domestic match data, but injury burden was significantly greater on artificial (3082 days/1000 h, 95% CI 2847‐3337) in comparison with natural/hybrid surfaces (2364 days/1000 h, 95% CI 2277–2454, p < 0.001). These differences were primarily driven by a significantly greater mean severity of hip/groin, and foot/toe injuries on artificial surfaces. This is the largest study to date to examine the relationship between surface type and injury risk in rugby union. The average severity and burden of injuries sustained on artificial surfaces was significantly greater compared with those sustained on hybrid/natural grass surfaces. This study can inform those involved in selection of surface for elite sport, weighing up the positive and negative elements of the varying surface types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People's memory for emotion is often biased by their beliefs of what they should have felt. This bias may be stronger when people estimate the emotions of others. We hypothesised that people might remember a lockdown as worse than it really was for them, and, especially if their own was not too bad, they might believe that others had a worse experience. We investigated people's memories of their own emotions experienced during a national COVID-19 lockdown and the emotions they estimated others were feeling. Two hundred and thirty-four participants from Aotearoa New Zealand each completed two matched questionnaires, one during a lockdown and one after the lockdown had ended. The questionnaires asked them to rate eight different emotions, some positive and some negative, and their life satisfaction. They also rated the government's current performance on managing COVID-19 at both time points. Participants had a relatively good memory for their emotions but, as predicted, they tended to recall the lockdown experience as more negative than they had originally experienced it. They also estimated the experiences of others to be more negative than their own. These results agree with our predictions and suggest that we should be cautious about accepting people's memories of how they actually felt during disasters as accurate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concussion is the most common match injury in rugby union. Some players wear padded headgear, but whether this protects against concussion is unclear. In professional male rugby union players, we examined: (i) the association between the use of headgear and match concussion injury incidence, and (ii) whether wearing headgear influenced time to return to play following concussion. Using a nested case-control within a cohort study, four seasons (2013–2017) of injury data from 1117 players at the highest level of rugby union in England were included. Cases were physician-diagnosed concussion injuries. Controls were other contact injuries (excluding all head injuries). We determined headgear use by viewing video footage. Sixteen percent of cases and controls wore headgear. Headgear use had no significant effect on concussion injury incidence (adjusted odds ratio=1.05, 95% CI: 0.71–1.56). Median number of days absent for concussion whilst wearing headgear was 8 days, compared with 7 days without headgear. Having sustained a concussion in the current or previous season increased the odds of concussion more than four-fold (odds ratio=4.55, 95% CI: 3.77–5.49). Wearing headgear was not associated with lower odds of concussions or a reduced number of days' absence following a concussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To describe trends in the incidence of match concussions and time to return-to-play in professional rugby union. Match concussion incidence (injuries per 1000 player-match-hours) and time to return-to-play (mean and median days absence) were recorded in 3006 male professional rugby union players over 16 seasons (2002/03 – 2018/19). From 2002/03 to 2009/10, incidence of concussions was stable at 4.3/1000 player-match-hours. From 2009/10 to 2018/19, there was an increase in concussion incidence, with the highest incidence in 2016/17 at 20.9/1000 player-match-hours (95% CI: 17.9–24.3). Annual prevalence of concussion also increased, suggesting more players were concussed rather than the same players sustaining more concussions. Before the introduction of standardized graduated return-to-play (GRTP) guidelines in 2011, 27% of players returned to play in <6 days. After the introduction of the GRTP, this decreased to 7%, with no players returning in <6 days after 2014/15. Between 2002/03 and 2018/19, incidence of all other injuries remained stable. From 2009/10 onwards, the incidence of diagnosed concussions increased. Since the introduction of the GRTP, there has been a dramatic reduction in the number of players returning in <6 days. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Training load monitoring has grown in recent years with the acute:chronic workload ratio (ACWR) widely used to aggregate data to inform decision-making on injury risk. Several methods have been described to calculate the ACWR and numerous methodological issues have been raised. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between the ACWR and injury in a sample of 696 players from 13 professional rugby clubs over two seasons for 1718 injuries of all types and a further analysis of 383 soft tissue injuries specifically. Of the 192 comparisons undertaken for both injury groups, 40% (all injury) and 31% (soft tissue injury) were significant. Furthermore, there appeared to be no calculation method that consistently demonstrated a relationship with injury. Some calculation methods supported previous work for a "sweet spot" in injury risk, while a substantial number of methods displayed no such relationship. This study is the largest to date to have investigated the relationship between the ACWR and injury risk and demonstrates that there appears to be no consistent association between the two. This suggests that alternative methods of training load aggregation may provide more useful information, but these should be considered in the wider context of other established risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]