How often do rugby players have head injuries compared to american football players?

mdoctor82088: How often do rugby players have head injuries compared to american football players?
I am not asking this to get in a big argument about which sport is tougher. As an American who plays American football, I respect rugby as a sport, as you truly have to have a pair to go full contact with no pads. I was just wondering how often rugby players have head injuries since unlike football they don’t have a helmet to absorb the hit as much? Again this not for arguing, it is just an honest question looking for an unbiased answer.

Answers and Views:

Answer by kinghitz
Comparatively I don’t know but in rugby a concussion is quite a common injury. There are also some neck injuries ranging from strains and tears to high level neck trauma & breakages.

So the question is whether all the body armour of the American footballer prevents these types of injuries?

Answer by Zacivich
In a 1999 study by Massey University in New Zealand, there were 9.5 concussions per 1000 high school rugby players.

In a 2003 study by Yale University in the States, they found that there was an incidence rate of 53.9 per 1000 high school football players. But there was another study on the same page that said it was as high as 76.0 per 1000, so its somewhere in the middle of those two.

Answer by Jed H
Being a rugby player I’d say rugby is tougher, as you mentioned you go into full contact wear little or no protection where as in american football you where massive amounts of pads and helmets…. I’d say rugby players have head injuries more often.

Answer by Risteard
I’d say there are more injuries because the NFL players wear helmets. A lot of these hits are maybe clashes of heads which are common as I’ve seen them in the last two tri-nations matches. Then there are more serious ones as well like concussions.

Answer by us_fulham_fan
I would think it would be a lesser number because of how a rugby player is trained to bring an opponent down.

Answer by phenobulous
i dont have figures, but i do know that gridiron injuries tend to be more severe.

Answer by R H
well ive seen some pretty bad injuries in rugby some1 is out on their feet probly at least 1ce every couple of games where i play rugby. scrums dont always go as planned bt as a front row i tend to get more neck soreness bt alot of props that dont engage right go right into som1s head or shoulder. also if ur an unexpierenced scrumhalf of flyhalf or 8 u probly will b knocked out by ur opposite if their really good. also with no helmet u tend 2 get more wear and tear injuries, like last night i went head 1st into the ground in order 2 score so my face is bruised and sore n scratched this morning. i ve also been kicked my metal studs in the face or stomped in the bak of the head, um 1ce a teammate like jumped over me wen i was gettin up n i got his boot next to my eye big scratch. bt ya dependin on ur position u will hav more or less injuries im sure its da same in football

Answer by shkie
I know that in high school rugby there are a lot more concussions.
On my team last year we had almost a quarter of the team have some sort of head injury, and I had to stay home from school for a major concussion and couldn’t play for a while.
I’m not sure about football, but they wear helmets so head injuries probably aren’t as common.