Training volume and soft tissue injury in professional and non-professional rugby union players: a systematic review.
AIM
To investigate the relationship between training volume and soft tissue injury incidence, and characterise soft tissue injury in rugby union players.


DESIGN
A systematic search of electronic databases was performed. The search strategy combined terms covering: training volume and injury, and rugby union, and players of all levels.


DATA SOURCES
Medline, SPORTDiscus, Web of Science, Embase, PubMed.


ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES
Studies were included if they reported: male rugby union players, a clear definition of a rugby union injury, the amount of training volume undertaken by participants, and epidemiological data for soft-tissue injuries including the number or incidence.


RESULTS
15 studies were eligible for inclusion. Overall match and training injury incidence ranged from 3.3 to 218.0 injuries/1000 player match hours and 0.1-6.1 injuries/1000 player training hours, respectively. Muscle and tendon as well as joint (non-bone) and ligament injuries were the most frequently occurring injuries. The lower limb was the most prevalent injury location. Injury incidence was higher in professional rugby union players than non-professional players. Contact events were responsible for the greatest injury incidence. For non-contact mechanisms, running was responsible for the highest injury incidence. Inconsistent injury definitions hindered reliable comparison of injury data. The lack of reporting training volumes in hours per player per week limited the ability to investigate associations between training volume and injury incidence.


CONCLUSIONS
A higher level of play may result in higher match injury incidence. Muscle and tendon injuries were the most common type of soft tissue injury, while the lower limb was the most common location of injury in rugby union players, and running was responsible for the highest injury incidence during non-contact events.
['Ball|Shane|S|', 'Halaki|Mark|M|', 'Orr|Rhonda|R|http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1527-6611']
D000328:Adult D001265:Athletic Injuries D005538:Football D006801:Humans D015994:Incidence D008022:Ligaments D035002:Lower Extremity D008297:Male D009132:Muscles D064797:Physical Conditioning, Human D012420:Running D017695:Soft Tissue Injuries D013708:Tendon Injuries D055815:Young Adult
Contact sports Football Muscle injury Sporting injuries Training load