609 MEP130 – Player-perceived injury risk of shoe-surface interaction and injury prevalence in elite rugby sevens players

AbstractBackground Rugby Union is a physical impact game with a high injury incidence. Rugby Sevens is a fast-paced dynamic variant of rugby with reduced number of players on the field of play yet higher incidence of injuries. One potential risk factor for this is the warm, dry climates, and surface type the game is played on each season. Objectives The aim was to explore decisions, beliefs, and perceptions between rugby boot characteristics, playing surface and non-contact lower limb injuries in professional rugby sevens players.Design Elite rugby sevens players completed an online questionnaire that asked questions on boot selection, playing surface, risk of injury and injury history. Injury data and pitch surface was retrospectively retrieved from medical notes and was analysed to explore any trends in relation to questionnaire data collected. Setting IRFU.Participants 50 men (n=25) women (n=25) completed questionnaire.Results 86% (n=43/50) of the players perceived pitch surface to be an injury risk. Playing surfaces that are hard, inconsistent, or bumpy were perceived to be most associated with injury. 64% percent (n=32/50) of the players perceived rugby boots to be an important risk factor for injury. 1 in 4 women have changed their boots due to injury. Forty percent (n=10/25) of men strap their foot or ankle prior to playing compared to 24% (n=6/25) of women. Men and women players reported a similar exposure to artificial turf (include figures), with women reported a higher incidence of training injury (include figures). Incidence of training injuries on artificial turf is greater in the women population even with similar exposure time to men players.Conclusion Elite rugby sevens players consider pitch surface and rugby boot type to be important factors influencing their risk of injury. Future research should include objective pitch surface data to quantify injury risk of specific characteristics. View this table:View inline View popup Download powerpoint Abstract 609 Table 1 Distribution of injury related shoe surface characteristics between men and women rugby players (n,%)