Study Claims Rugby Gear Ineffective
by Philip Jones

Protective athletic equipment is designed to keep athletes from getting hurt. But one researcher said that just because equipment performs well in a laboratory doesn't mean it actually protects on the playing field.

UNC-CH rugby players use a variety of protective equipment to guard against injuries in a sport known for hard hits. But a new study reveals that some equipment fails to protect players.

"Most of what [players] wear as protective equipment does not do a great deal in terms of reducing the rate of injury," said Stephen Marshall, an epidemiologist at UNC Hospitals.

Marshall and his team of researchers followed 356 rugby players during a 1993 club season in New Zealand. Researchers analyzed whether various protective equipment cut the risk of injury.

"We saw increased risks associated with shinguards and with taping around the head," Marshall said.

However, some equipment did prevent injury. Elastic support sleeves cut injuries to ankles, knees and arms by about fifty percent. Mouth guards also reduced injuries to the mouth and teeth by half. Helmets lessened injuries to the scalp and ears, but did nothing to guard against more serious head injuries.

"The idea [behind helmets] is basically people trying to protect their brains. We saw no protective effect for that in terms of preventing concussions or brain trauma," said Marshall.

That's not good news for rugby players like University junior Brandon Ashburn, who recently suffered a head injury.

" I took a knee in the head when I was tackling a guy and just split my head open," Ashburn said. "I had a grade three concussion, so they sent me off to the hospital immediately following the incident."

The study suggests wearing a helmet likely wouldn't have prevented a concussion like Ashburn's. But, a helmet might have averted a scalp injury that left him with eight staples in his head.

Researchers say the key to preventing more injuries is finding protective equipment that really works. But Marshall says even though he gathered information about the equipment in 1993, very few advancements have been made in the equipment safety since then.