A qualitative investigation into the individual injury burden of amateur rugby players
Gemma P. Murphy, Rachel B. Sheehan
Abstract
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.