How many of us have played on artificial grass pitches and noticed a change in our movements, or use different boots compared to when we play on natural grass?
Do we perform or fall differently and anecdotally do injury types change? Large scale multi-season injury surveillance examining the characteristics of injuries in Rugby Union on different playing surfaces is lacking. The use of artificial pitch playing surfaces is common, especially when considering weather changes and use tolerance, particularly in colder and wetter winter countries when grass pitches can suffer. In Ireland there is a mix of artificial and natural grass surfaces used for training and matches and a need to examine whether there may be injury trends unique to either. The IRFU and IRIS (Irish Rugby Injury Surveillance team) carried out a longitudinal study over four years to examine the effect of playing surface on match injury risk in female and male amateur Rugby Union players in Ireland.
Analysis was conducted on four years of data on 1,881 amateur community rugby players in 36 clubs in Ireland competing at the highest club level; 1,472 male and 409 female. Each team registered their players on an online secure portal (IRISweb) and designated an injury recorder medic to report injuries throughout each season. A 24-hour time-loss injury definition was used.
2,500 match injuries were recorded. 8% of clubs predominantly trained on an artificial surface, 56% predominantly on natural grass, and 36% on both. Artificial surface lower body injury incidence (59%; 95% CI 0.53-0.64) was greater compared to natural grass (48%; 95% CI 0.46-0.51) (p<0.05). Injury location findings differed (p<0.05) based on playing surface with a higher proportion of the reported injuries occurring in the lower body on artificial surfaces than grass surfaces (Figure 1). The most commonly reported injuries for artificial surface versus natural grass were strain (27% Vs 27%), sprain (26% Vs 24%), haematoma/contusion (12% Vs 10%), concussion (9% Vs 11%), dislocation (6% Vs 4%), laceration (5% Vs 4%) and fracture (3% Vs 7%). There was no statistically significant difference presented between men and women. There was no statistically significant difference in injury severity (days lost) for artificial compared to grass (48 Vs 51 average day’s absence).
A relatively higher incidence of lower body injury was reported on artificial surfaces versus natural grass. Laceration proportion did not differ between playing surface type but surveillance of abrasion injury is required which often does not present under the 24-hour time loss definition and we often experience and see painful ‘astro-burns’ which should be monitored.
Our findings can help inform decision making within club and Rugby governing body structures for playing surface integration, and implementation of evidence-based welfare strategies.
Professor Ian Kenny is an Associate Professor in Biomechanics in the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences at the University of Limerick. Prof Kenny is co-Principal Investigator for IRIS and co-director of the Sport and Human Performance Research Centre. Prof Kenny’s research interests include the biomechanics of sports injury and sports medicine, effects of equipment parameters on the golf swing, and musculoskeletal modelling and computer simulation of movement.
Contact: Email: ian.kenny@ul.ie @IanCKenny ResearchGate
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