ACL statistics

[Nikki Parfitt]

Can anyone help me out with getting statistics of Anterior Cruciate Ligament injuries in Union?

It would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
xox

[injuryupdate]

I haven't seen a detailed list of ACL injury rates in rugby union. There is a small amount of detail in some of the research papers on the injuryupdate site:

http://www.injuryupdate.com.au/images/research/SMgroundcond.pdf

and

http://www.injuryupdate.com.au/images/research/MJA93sewardfootball.pdf

but the sport lacks a long-term register that is present in the AFL.

The individual countries are collecting more injury stats but we haven't seen a Super 12/Tri-nations/Five nations injury surveillance system which would get better numbers. At UNSW there is an Australian elite/amateur/school database with 4 seasons of data that would have ACL stats but public release (in the form of published papers) has not occurred yet.

Out of interest, anecdotal observation suggests that ACL injuries are more common in Australia and South Africa than New Zealand and the northern unions, probably due to different ground conditions. This mirrors the increased risk in injuries overall and spinal injuries and is similar to the geographical bias seen in the AFL.