Incidence of injury in amateur rugby league sevens

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the incidence, site, and nature of injuries sustained in amateur rugby league sevens tournaments. METHODS: A total of 168 players competing in three amateur rugby league sevens tournaments were studied. All injuries sustained during matches were recorded. Information recorded included the name of the injured player and the time, cause, anatomical site, and nature of the injury. RESULTS: The incidence of injury was 283.5 per 1000 playing hours. Some 40% (113.4 per 1000 playing hours) of all injuries sustained were to the lower limb (chi(2) = 5.3, df = 1, p<0.05). Contusions were the most common type of injury (113.4 per 1000 hours, 40%, chi(2) = 9.5, df = 4, p<0.05), with most (198.4 per 1000 hours, 70%, chi(2) = 31.5, df =4, p<0.001) occurring in physical collisions and tackles. An increasing injury incidence was observed over the first (99.2 per 1000 hours), second (198.4 per 1000 hours), third (347.2 per 1000 hours), and fourth (694.4 per 1000 hours) matches played during the tournaments (chi(2) = 9.2, df = 3, p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that amateur rugby league sevens tournaments, which require players to compete repeatedly on the same day, may hasten the onset of fatigue and predispose to injury.