Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Prevalent morphometric vertebral fractures in professional male rugby players

Hind, K.; Birrell, F.; Beck, B.

Prevalent morphometric vertebral fractures in professional male rugby players Thumbnail


Authors

K. Hind

F. Birrell

B. Beck



Abstract

There is an ongoing concern about the risk of injury to the spine in professional rugby players. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of vertebral fracture using vertebral fracture assessment (VFA) dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) imaging in professional male rugby players. Ninety five professional rugby league (n = 52) and union (n = 43) players (n = 95; age 25.9 (SD 4.3) years; BMI: 29.5 (SD 2.9) kg.m2) participated in the research. Each participant received one VFA, and one total body and lumbar spine DXA scan (GE Lunar iDXA). One hundred and twenty vertebral fractures were identified in over half of the sample by VFA. Seventy four were graded mild (grade 1), 40 moderate (grade 2) and 6 severe (grade 3). Multiple vertebral fractures (≥2) were found in 37 players (39%). There were no differences in prevalence between codes, or between forwards and backs (both 1.2 v 1.4; p>0.05). The most common sites of fracture were T8 (n = 23), T9 (n = 18) and T10 (n = 21). The mean (SD) lumbar spine bone mineral density Z-score was 2.7 (1.3) indicating high player bone mass in comparison with age- and sex-matched norms. We observed a high number of vertebral fractures using DXA VFA in professional rugby players of both codes. The incidence, aetiology and consequences of vertebral fractures in professional rugby players are unclear, and warrant timely, prospective investigation.

Citation

Hind, K., Birrell, F., & Beck, B. (2014). Prevalent morphometric vertebral fractures in professional male rugby players. PLoS ONE, 9(5), Article e97427. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0097427

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 20, 2014
Online Publication Date May 20, 2014
Publication Date May 20, 2014
Deposit Date Sep 5, 2018
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal PLoS ONE
Publisher Public Library of Science
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 9
Issue 5
Article Number e97427
DOI https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0097427

Files

Published Journal Article (517 Kb)
PDF

Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
Copyright: © 2014 Hind et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.




You might also like



Downloadable Citations