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Rugby is a brutal but very entertaining sport to watch. Just like the casinos ranked by Casinos.com offer non-stop action, rugby fans turn to the sport for continuous excitement—though player injuries sometimes force a temporary pause. Let’s examine the most common injuries that could occur during a game, as well as their impacts on the short- and long-term health of players.
1 Concussions
While most rugby and other contact sports fans have heard of concussions, they might not realize that a concussion is a fairly serious head injury involving the brain essentially rattling around against the inside of the skull. Concussions can cause short- and long-term issues, including memory fog, headaches, dizziness, and much more, which could impact a rugby player’s ability to function later in life.
Teams have been trying to train rugby players to tackle properly, ideally without using their head or neck to take a runner down. Unfortunately, concussions still make up 20 per cent of all match injuries. Rugby has also had health protocols in place to remove affected players from the field.
Due to their frequency and seriousness, we’ve ranked concussions as the number one injury in rugby. If a player suffers multiple head injuries throughout their career, they are at higher risk of having serious mental and physical health issues in the long run. For this reason, a group of nearly 300 rugby players are suing their sports organisations over brain injuries suffered during their time playing, showing the seriousness of these problems.
2 Muscle and Ligament Strains
Muscle and ligament strains are common in many sports that involve running and tackling. To be a bit more specific, rugby players reportedly run around four miles per game, and each game can have nearly 180 tackles. With the amount of high-speed running players do per game, there is a high risk of muscle strain. Add on the tackles that can put players in awkward positions or impact them into turf or grass, and players have a high risk of serious injury.
Proper tackling does go a little way in preventing injuries while players take each other down. Strength and conditioning training also helps to reduce the impact that all but the most awkward of landing or tackles could produce.
The most common types of muscle strains involve the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments, which stabilise the knee. These can be strained or torn when excess weight is placed on the leg while the foot is planted, which does happen when a player gets their spikes caught on turf or they are tackled low.
3 Shoulder Dislocations
In some ways, shoulders could be included in muscle and ligament strains, but shoulder dislocations have an unfortunate place in rugby as players frequently lead with their shoulder during tackles or fall in awkward positions with excess weight landing on their arm, causing the ball and socket joint to come apart. Players are also coached to tackle while aiming at softer parts of the body, but sometimes they miss and offer their opponent an unfortunately played impact on a joint like a shoulder, causing dislocation.
Shoulder dislocations are painful, of course, but aren’t ranked as high because players have the tendency to not miss as much time and sometimes just pop the bone back into the right place and keep going. The fact that many rugby players still want to finish the game after an injury like this shows how tough they are.
4 Rib Injuries
The actual pain from a rib injury can be worse than other injuries listed here, in part because people use their ribs constantly for protection, and the bones are impacted by breathing. Rugby players suffer occasional rib injuries because many don’t wear any protective gear for their abdomen besides a protective undershirt with some padding.
So, why do rugby players not wear much protection or padding? The sport generally emphasises proper, safe tackling form. If players were to put on padding like American football, they would probably tackle less safely, which would increase the risks for both the tackler and the runner.
5 Finger Problems
Rugby players have been known to have hand issues, especially breaking finger bones or tearing tendons while tackling. Some unfortunate players have grabbed an opponent by the jersey to tackle them and put a full load on finger tendons, only to have those tendons strain or
break, causing them to lose some control over that finger until healed. The good news for tough rugby players is that most of them have four other digits on their hands with which to make tackles.
6 Herniated Discs
When players attempt to make a tackle or push a scrum, they can hurt their neck or spine. Over time, the fluid and cushioning between parts of the spine can wear down, causing bulging discs and painful nerve problems.
Conclusion
Rugby is a contact sport involving running, jumping, and many collisions, so players are likely to experience injuries. Concussions are generally considered one of the most severe injuries because they can cause long-term brain issues. Many players have also experienced muscle and tendon strains and tears, which often take them off the field for a short time.
Article by Johnny Kolodziejczak.
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Author : rugby-247
Publish date : 2025-03-04 11:13:50
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