Effects of footwear on comfort and injury in professional rugby league

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Kinchington, Michael A, Ball, Kevin and Naughton, Geraldine (2011) Effects of footwear on comfort and injury in professional rugby league. Journal of Sports Sciences, 29 (13). pp. 1407-1415. ISSN 0264-0414 (print) 1466-447X (online)

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a tailored footwear programme on lower-limb comfort in professional rugby league players. The study was conducted over 30 weeks and involved two professional teams (n = 59 players) from the Australian National Rugby League competition. One team was assigned to a footwear programme (intervention), while players from the control group continued usual practices of self-selected footwear. The tailored footwear programme consisting of player education, prescription of footwear, and frequent rotation of footwear resulted in a lower incidence of injury and higher comfort ratings. The intervention group had fewer lower-limb injuries (P = 0.005; Cohen d = 0.72) and higher comfort ratings (P < 0.001, Cohen d = 1.24) than the control group. Specifically, the intervention group reported a lower incidence of poor comfort events (mean = 3.8, s = 2.7) than the control group (mean = 7.9, s = 3.7). Observations also included fewer time loss events in the intervention (mean = 6.3, s = 4.8) than the control group (mean = 11.0, s = 6.3) and reduced injuries per 1000 h in the intervention (24.79/1000) than the control group (30.76/1000). These findings should help medical advisers improve footwear comfort in sportspeople and so reduce the incidence of related injuries.

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Item type Article
URI https://vuir.vu.edu.au/id/eprint/9099
DOI 10.1080/02640414.2011.593041
Official URL http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0264041...
Subjects Historical > FOR Classification > 1106 Human Movement and Sports Science
Historical > Faculty/School/Research Centre/Department > School of Sport and Exercise Science
Historical > SEO Classification > 970111 Expanding Knowledge in the Medical and Health Sciences
Keywords ResPubID23501, leg, injury, comfort, rugby league, footwear
Citations in Scopus 23 - View on Scopus
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