Injury reporting

Reporting on why and how an injury occurs helps us find ways to prevent them happening again. Coaches should record injuries as they happen. This will enable you to see if a pattern of injury emerges over a season, and to assess whether any introduced injury prevention measures make a difference.

On this page

  1. Which injuries to report?
  2. What information to collect?
  3. What to do with the information collected?
  4. Example of injury reporting

Which injuries to report?

Deciding what injuries to record will depend on the objectives of the sporting organisation. For example, information may be collected on injuries that require a player to:

  • receive treatment
  • miss part of the practice session or game
  • miss the next practice session or game.

What information to collect?

Use an Injury report form (PDF 58K) to record a player’s injuries.

What to do with the information collected?

The reporting system will be influenced by the sport organisation’s objectives and the resources (funds, people and equipment) that can be committed to its operation.

Issues to be addressed

Examples

What is the population from which you are recording information?
  • elite players only
  • all grades

For what period is the data to be collected?
  • club season
  • whole year

How will the data be collected?
  • questionnaire completed at time of injury and posted to national office
  • postal survey at end of season

Who will provide the data?
  • individual players
  • referees
  • team medics

Where will the data be collated and stored?
  • club
  • regional organisation
  • national office

How will the data be analysed?
  • statistical package
  • external analyst

How will the findings be distributed?

  • annual report to administrators
  • monthly reports to clubs

How will data confidentiality be protected?
  • policy on identifying individuals
  • storage

Example of injury reporting

Two major surveys of rugby players in New Zealand used results from player injury reporting. The surveys aimed to find out:

  • what injuries were occurring in rugby
  • how many injuries were occurring
  • what factors were contributing to the injuries.

The first survey found:

  • more injuries occurred in higher grades
  • most of the injuries occurred in the tackle
  • many injuries were caused by foul play
  • players with previous injuries were more likely to have another
  • training in the off-season reduced the risk of injury during the season.

As a result of the survey, new policies were implemented such as:

  • compulsory wearing of mouthguards
  • changes to the rules of the game (eg scrum engagement)
  • teaching correct tackling techniques.

The second survey revealed a reduction in rugby injuries, indicating that the measures put in place to reduce injury actually worked.

Last updated: 20 April 2009