Financial motivation can encourage greater sports injury prevention efforts
A landmark study published recently in the BMJ has shown that the rate of catastrophic spinal injury in rugby union in New Zealand has halved.1 For the period 2001–2005, the rate was 1.3 spinal injuries per 100 000 players per year, compared with 2.7 per 100 000 players per year in the period 1996–2000, which was typical of the previous 25 years.1 This drop coincided with the introduction of “RugbySmart” (http://www.rugbysmart.co.nz), a 10-point annual injury prevention program that was made compulsory from 2001 for all coaches and referees in New Zealand.1,2 While the observational study does not claim that the drop in catastrophic spinal injuries can be unequivocally attributed to RugbySmart, an accompanying editorial in the BMJ stated: “The beauty of the RugbySmart programme is that it can do no harm, and according to the results of this study may do great good”.3
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- 2. Gianotti S, Quarrie K, Hopkins W. RugbySmart — the prevention of serious injuries in rugby union. In: Proceedings of the New Zealand Sports Medicine and Science Conference; 2006 Nov 16-18; Wellington, New Zealand. Wellington: Sports Medicine New Zealand; 2006. p. 47.
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- 9. Gianotti S, Hume PA. A cost-outcome approach to pre and post-implementation of national sports injury prevention programmes. J Sci Med Sport 2007 Mar 10 [Epub ahead of print]. doi: 10.1016/j.jsams.2006.10.006.
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John Orchard is a board member of the New South Wales Sporting Injuries Committee (NSWSIC), but the views expressed here are his own and not reflective of the NSWSIC.