A qualitative investigation into the individual injury burden of amateur rugby players.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the individual experiences of injury burden in amateur Rugby players across the onset of injury, rehabilitation, and return to play.

DESIGN

Qualitative.

SETTING

Irish amateur Rugby clubs.

PARTICIPANTS

Three male and two female Rugby players who sustained a severe injury that resulted in a time loss of at least 28 days.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Semi-structured interviews were used to explore the injury burden experienced during the three phases of injury.

RESULTS

Hierarchical content analysis revealed 36 codes representing individual injury burden, which were clustered into seven themes across personal (emotional reaction; impact on performance or involvement; lack of knowledge; severity of injury and incapacitation) and situational (exposure to others playing; negative experiences with treatment or rehabilitation; societal burden) dimensions.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings indicate that individual injury experiences can affect a player's recovery and rehabilitation outcome, potentially extending the injury process and affecting player availability for the team. As such, injury management should focus on alleviating any injury-related burden experienced by players, as well as burden placed on the team, to maximise rehabilitation outcomes.