Objective: To describe the injury rates in first team rugby league in terms of those injuries that require missed playing time and those that do not.
Design: A pooled data analysis from 2 independent databases.
Setting: Rugby league match and training environment over several seasons from 1990 to 2003.
Main outcome measures: Injuries were reported as rates per 1000 hours of participation and as percentages with their associated 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
Results: A total of 1707 match injuries were recorded. Of these injuries, 257 required players to miss the subsequent match. The remaining 1450 injuries did not require players to miss the next game. They represented 85% (95% CI, 83-87) of all injuries received and recorded. The ratio of non-time-loss (NTL) to time-loss (TL) injuries was 5.64 (95% CI, 4.96-6.42). There were 450 training injuries, of which 81 were TL injuries and 369 NTL injuries. The NTL training injury rate was 4.56 (95% CI, 3.58-5.79) times higher than TL injury rate.
Conclusions: Non-time-loss injuries represent the largest proportion of injuries in rugby league. If NTL injuries are not recorded, the workload of practitioners is likely to be severely underestimated.