Examining athletic trainers’ role in treating and preventing concussions in women’s rugby

Rugby is a fast-growing international sport that has gained popularity in the U.S. in recent years, particularly at the high school and college levels. In the next decade, the U.S. is scheduled to host the 2031 men’s Rugby World Cup and the 2033 women’s Rugby World Cup, bringing the sport further into the mainstream.

As a full-contact sport played with little or no protective equipment, rugby has a reputation for high injury rates, including concussions. When a player gets hurt playing any sport, athletic trainers are often the first medical professionals to respond.

“It’s important to understand when concussions and other injuries are happening and who they are happening to, otherwise we’re putting athletes at risk,” said Shannon Wright, an assistant professor of athletic training at the University of Maine.

In a recent article published in Clinical Practice in Athletic Training, Wright explored how athletic trainers can help treat and prevent concussions in women’s rugby players based on some of the latest data available.

“The goal was to review the data from another study and translate that into useful knowledge for athletic trainers, who are on the frontlines of responding to concussions,” said Wright, who worked as an athletic trainer for club teams in rugby, soccer, hockey and other sports while in graduate school.

That data was published in a 2022 study in the journal Sports Medicine, which served as the foundation for Wright’s clinical review and guidance for trainers. While men’s rugby has more than a century of history as an organized sport, including injury data, the women’s game didn’t catch on until more recently, with the first women’s Rugby World Cup being held in 1991.

Wright said a lot of information can be gleaned from the Sports Medicine article, which pooled data from 16 studies reporting concussion rates between different versions of the sport, levels of participation and position groups. For example, according to the article, backs had slightly higher rates of concussion than forwards. The pooled data also showed that rugby league, with 13 players per side, had higher rates than rugby union, where teams have either 15 or 7 players, and that rugby 7s had higher risk of concussion than 15s. The risk was higher during matches than practices for both 7s and 15s rugby.

“For athletic trainers, the more information we have, the easier it is to focus our efforts, including educating players on safety and when to be alert to situations where concussions might occur during competition or practices,” Wright said.

Education is particularly important because the ultimate goal is for the sport to become safer for players, Wright said. On average, female athletes who experience concussions need more than a month to recover before they can return to play. Athletic trainers help with the recovery process, as well as ensuring that concussions and other injuries don’t reoccur.

“Having care early on when someone has a concussion helps, having a trained professional to help with recovery helps, having someone assist with warmups before matches and practices helps. These are all things that athletic trainers do, which ultimately make the sport safer,” Wright said.

Rugby is a fast-growing international sport that has gained popularity in the U.S. in recent years, particularly at the high school and college levels. In the next decade, the U.S. is scheduled to host the 2031 men’s Rugby World Cup and the 2033 women’s Rugby World Cup, bringing the sport further into the mainstream.

As a full-contact sport played with little or no protective equipment, rugby has a reputation for high injury rates, including concussions. When a player gets hurt playing any sport, athletic trainers are often the first medical professionals to respond.

“It’s important to understand when concussions and other injuries are happening and who they are happening to, otherwise we’re putting athletes at risk,” said Shannon Wright, an assistant professor of athletic training at the University of Maine.

In a recent article published in Clinical Practice in Athletic Training, Wright explored how athletic trainers can help treat and prevent concussions in women’s rugby players based on some of the latest data available.

“The goal was to review the data from another study and translate that into useful knowledge for athletic trainers, who are on the frontlines of responding to concussions,” said Wright, who worked as an athletic trainer for club teams in rugby, soccer, hockey and other sports while in graduate school.

That data was published in a 2022 study in the journal Sports Medicine, which served as the foundation for Wright’s clinical review and guidance for trainers. While men’s rugby has more than a century of history as an organized sport, including injury data, the women’s game didn’t catch on until more recently, with the first women’s Rugby World Cup being held in 1991.

Wright said a lot of information can be gleaned from the Sports Medicine article, which pooled data from 16 studies reporting concussion rates between different versions of the sport, levels of participation and position groups. For example, according to the article, backs had slightly higher rates of concussion than forwards. The pooled data also showed that rugby league, with 13 players per side, had higher rates than rugby union, where teams have either 15 or 7 players, and that rugby 7s had higher risk of concussion than 15s. The risk was higher during matches than practices for both 7s and 15s rugby.

“For athletic trainers, the more information we have, the easier it is to focus our efforts, including educating players on safety and when to be alert to situations where concussions might occur during competition or practices,” Wright said.

Education is particularly important because the ultimate goal is for the sport to become safer for players, Wright said. On average, female athletes who experience concussions need more than a month to recover before they can return to play. Athletic trainers help with the recovery process, as well as ensuring that concussions and other injuries don’t reoccur.

“Having care early on when someone has a concussion helps, having a trained professional to help with recovery helps, having someone assist with warmups before matches and practices helps. These are all things that athletic trainers do, which ultimately make the sport safer,” Wright said.