A University study will examine long-term health of rugby players

[L'irlandais]

University study will examine long-term health of rugby players

The study - by UK RugbyHealth - follows research in 2015...
...
The Carnegie Research Institute at Leeds Beckett University will lead the study, alongside researchers at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) and the University of Aberdeen.

Dr Karen Hind, senior research fellow at Leeds Beckett, said: "Our project will examine links between concussions and future health. But it is also a broad study of how people who played rugby are getting on later in life. "

About time.

[ChrisR]

I'm getting along just fine. Best I can remember.

[L'irlandais]

Pretty wide ranging study apparently:

The research will also explore muscle, bone, joint and cardiometabolic health.
Cardiometabolic risk refers to the chances of having diabetes, heart disease or a stroke.

[SimonSmith]

Shock conclusion: people who play a violent collision sport at higher risk of long term physical impairment.

[L'irlandais]

Well quite a few stalwarts of the amateur game are still fairly active if RRF members are any gauge of such things. I cannot help feeling it's the pro era players that are part of a worrying trend. I wonder if it's not more to do with bulking up their muscle weight to adapt to the higher collision rate in the modern game; rather than the collisions themselves.

There have been several studies that focus on the possible adverse effects of creatine use and the heart, kidney or liver function in healthy individuals.

Another discussion on here about Sione Tuitupu Lauaki who was just 35 and his death comes less than two years after the similarly untimely passing of All Blacks great Jerry Collins. The cause of Lauaki death hasn’t been disclosed. Lauaki was forced to end his playing career in 2012 after routine medical tests in France detected kidney and heart problems.

Van der Westhuizen was yet another participant in the 1995 World Cup final to die. Jonah Lomu died of cardiac arrest at 40 in 2015 after a kidney disorder had cut short his career. And Ruben Kruger, the team’s outstanding back row forward, died at 39 in 2010 after a 10-year struggle with brain cancer.

Munster Rugby Union head coach Anthony Foley has died suddenly two weeks short of his 43rd birthday. The condition, acute pulmonary oedema, was caused by "a heart rhythm disorder".

Gardens Rugby Club player Ricardo Kiewiets, 26, from Daleview in Despatch, is believed to have suffered a heart attack within an hour of the match ending. source Kenya

There are many more less high profile examples out there on the www.

[Ian_Cook]

Another discussion on here about Sione Tuitupu Lauaki who was just 35 and his death comes less than two years after the similarly untimely passing of All Blacks great Jerry Collins. The cause of Lauaki death hasn’t been disclosed. Lauaki was forced to end his playing career in 2012 after routine medical tests in France detected kidney and heart problems.

It Has. Sione Lauaki died from kidney failure, the disease that ultimately killed Jonah Lomu (although Jonah's renal problems were related to nephrotic syndrome). The same illness made Joeli Vidiri very ill, and while there is one common point among all three players; the taking of creatine supplements, there is another far more important common point... they are all Pacific Islanders.

It is a known medical fact that Pacific islanders suffer rates of kidney failure at far greater rates (as much as 10 times greater) than their Caucasian counterparts.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14767026

Its is thought that early age diet may be a significant factor.

[L'irlandais]

That's a fair point Ian. The Islanders problem is more one of keeping their weight down. But perhaps they are the exception that proofs the rule? Btw*

Somewhen back there was an interesting article about how relatively injury-free big players like lock, Devin Toner are compared to smaller players who had bulked up quite a lot since arriving on the rugby scene. If I remember correctly Sean O'Brien was the player cited as a counter example. The man who has arguably been injured more than just about any other rugby player....

A hip injury marred the start of his season in 2012, a shoulder injury forced him to miss 11 consecutive tests in 2014, and a series of recurring hamstring injuries have limited him to just 12 Tests for Ireland*over the past two years

.
The 30 Year old has undergone close to 20 surgeries in the course of his career, says he will retire from the game if he tears his hamstring again. I do realise there are no definite studies to link the gym culture adopted from academies onwards, to increased muscle tears, but perhaps that's simply because professional rugby just doesn't want to hear that.

*The Lauaki article I quoted was from just after he died, obviously the postmortem has established why he died.

[DocY]

Somewhen back there was an interesting article about how relatively injury-free big players like lock, Devin Toner compared to smaller players who had bulked up quite a lot since arriving on the rugby scene. If I remember correctly Sean O'Brien was the player cited as a counter example. The man who has arguably been injured more than just about any other rugby player....

Jonny Wilkinson is a good example of this - put on about 2 and a half stone in his first few years as a professional then started getting injured.

It's simply an effect of how quickly muscle and strength can build up compared to bone and connective tissue - your muscles can get significantly stronger in a matter of weeks (or even days or hours in extreme cases), but connective tissue takes months with bone not far behind.
Even without opponents and with adequately supple muscles, you can still get strong enough to do yourself damage.

Unfortunately, this isn't just at the elite level where size is being emphasised. When I stopped playing (about 10 years ago) teams were regularly fielding 15-16 stone three quarters and 18 stone forwards - 30 years ago internationals weren't often that size.