857 FO56 – Does a stakeholder informed law change reduce head contact and head acceleration events in men’s academy rugby league?

BackgroundHead contact is a risk factor for concussion and given the potential long-term health risks from repeated head acceleration events (HAEs), law modification trials as preventative strategies are required.ObjectivePart 1. Establish important and feasible law modifications to reduce high magn...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of sports medicine 2024-03, Vol.58 (Suppl 2), p.A34-A35
Main Authors: Jones, Ben, Owen, Cameron, Spiegelhalter, Mily, Brown, James, Tooby, James, Backhouse, Susan, Chesson, Lucy, Cross, Matt, Fairbank, Laura, Gardner, Andrew, Hendricks, Sharief, Hayward, Omar, Hicks, Robert, Johnston, Richard, Kemp, Simon, Mackreth, Peter, Medley, Paul, Phillips, Gemma, Rotheram, Dave, Rowson, Steve, Sinfield, Kevin, Stodter, Anna, Stokes, Keith, Tucker, Ross, Whitehead, Sarah, Till, Kevin, Scantlebury, Sean
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Concussion
Fines & penalties
Full Oral Abstracts
Rugby
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Summary:BackgroundHead contact is a risk factor for concussion and given the potential long-term health risks from repeated head acceleration events (HAEs), law modification trials as preventative strategies are required.ObjectivePart 1. Establish important and feasible law modifications to reduce high magnitude HAE and head contact. Part 2. Examine effect of law modification in comparison to current laws in academy rugby league.DesignProspective cohortSettingMen’s academy rugby league (RL)ParticipantsTwelve academy RL teams, during 24 control and 24 law-modified matches.InterventionsPart 1: Stakeholders (n=36 professional coaches, n=6 performance staff, n=2 medical staff, n=11 match officials, n=16 current or recently retired players) rated proposed law modifications based on importance (achieve desired outcome) and feasibility (maintains dynamics of RL; easy to implement). Part 2: Laws with the highest rating of importance (armpit tackle height) and feasibility (40m kick-off location) were implemented.Main Outcome MeasurementsPlayer actions via video analysis, HAEs via instrumented mouthguards (210 control vs. 152 law-modifications player-matches) and concussion rates. Focus groups to explore lived experiences of players, coaches and match officials.ResultsContact to ball-carriers head/neck (control vs. law-modifications) was 43(95%CI; 39–48) vs. 31(27–34) per 1,000 tackles (p
ISSN:0306-3674
1473-0480
DOI:10.1136/bjsports-2024-IOC.59