Match Injuries in the Spanish Rugby Union Division de Honor

Objective: To describe the injury rate, severity, cause, anatomical location (tissue damaged), recurrence, place and time during matches throughout a season in the Spanish Rugby Union Division de Honor. Methods: Observational, prospective and descriptive study conducted in the competition of the Spanish División de Honor de Rugby with 258 players. The data were reported by the medical services of the previously formed clubs. Results: Total exposure was 4100 h, during which 220 injuries occurred. The average number of sick days was 36.8. The total injury rate was 53.6 injuries/1000 h of exposure. Three quarters suffered 93 injuries and the forwards sustained a total of 127 injuries, with a total of 48.6 and 58.1 injuries/1000 h of exposure, respectively. Moderate injuries were the most frequent. Specifically, ligament injury was the most frequent, and dislocation was the injury that caused the most sick days. The most injuries occurred in the third quarter of the match, and the most serious injuries occurred in the second quarter. Conclusions: The injury rate of Spanish rugby competitors is 53.6 injuries/1000 match hours, with an average of 36.8 sick days. Contact injuries are the most frequent, taking place especially when tackling or being tackled.