World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont has welcomed results from the largest ever studies into the forces experienced in-game by rugby players. The results, which provide players and parents with greater clarity and confidence than ever before into the benefits and safety of rugby, are a first anywhere in world sport.
- Independent, peer-reviewed studies shows 86 per cent of forces on the head in community rugby are the same or less than those experienced in general exercise such as running and jumping
- Elite Extension and Ulster University study shows that most contact events in men’s and women’s elite rugby do not result in players experiencing significant force
- World Rugby delivering on six point plan to make the sport the most progressive in the world on player welfare
- Combined with recent data on the health benefits of rugby the ORCHID study and Elite Extension provides a complete picture of playing rugby like never before.
- World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont has welcomed results from the largest ever studies into the forces experienced by rugby players. The results, which provide players and parents with greater clarity and confidence than ever before into the benefits and safety of rugby, are a first anywhere in world sport.
- The Otago Community Head Impact Detection study (ORCHID) a joint project between World Rugby, Prevent Biometrics, New Zealand Rugby, Otago Rugby and the University of Otago, has published the first independent, peer-reviewed findings into community rugby following almost two years of trail-blazing research. The study measures over 17,000 separate head acceleration events across more than 300 players from senior rugby through to U13s level.
- This work was followed by the Elite Extension of the ORCHID study in partnership with the Ulster University and Premiership Rugby. Further updates into the women’s community game are currently being prepared for peer review and publication.
- Both studies used smart mouthguard technology, supplied by Prevent Biometrics, to understand the forces on the head experienced by players both in matches and training situations. The mouthguards measure g-forces which are experienced for less time than it takes to blink, using technology independently verified both in research laboratories and on the field of play.
- The ORCHID paper shows that in the men’s community game:
- 86 per cent of forces measured are the same as or less than those experienced in other forms of exercise such as running, jumping or skipping
- 94 per cent of forces are lower than those previously measured on people riding a rollercoaster
- The large majority of events resulting in the highest measured forces are as a result of poor technique in the tackle and at the breakdown
- The Elite Extension study also showed that:
- Most contact events in elite rugby do not result in any significant force to the head.
- Where low, medium and high force events do occur they are most common in tackles and carries, followed by rucks
- Both men’s and women’s forwards were more likely to experience force events than backs