The objective of the study was to investigate the cumulative neurocognitive effects of repetitive concussive and subconcussive events in club level Rugby Union (hereafter rugby) during the course of one rugby season, in a combined group and individualized case-based approach. Amateur adult club level rugby players (n = 20) were compared with a non-contact control group (n = 22) of equivalent age, years of education and estimated IQ (p = > .05, in all instances), although the two groups were clearly differentiated on the basis of a history of reported concussions (p = < .05). Video analyses documented the tackling maneuvers observed amongst the players during all matches across the rugby season revealing a sobering average of more than a thousand tackles per player, excluding any contact practice sessions. Five rugby players (n = 5) who were observed to have a head jarring event were also isolated for individualized postconcussive follow-up analysis of their neurocognitive profiles. Measures included the ImPACT Verbal and Visual Memory, Visual Motor Speed and Reaction Time composites and the Purdue Pegboard. Independent and dependent statistical analyses were employed to compare the rugby versus control group neurocognitive test profiles at and between the three test intervals. Correlational analyses explored the association between concussion, tackling and neurocognitive test outcomes. Descriptive comparisons of individual neurocognitive test scores with normative data were employed for the case analyses. Taken together, the results implicated vulnerability amongst club rugby players on the motor and speeded tasks, with less robust indications on the memory tasks. While limited in terms of its small sample size, it is considered that the outcome of the study was rendered more robust by virtue of being methodologically multifaceted with heuristic implications for future research studies in the area. The novel inclusion of tackling data as well as fine-tuned case analyses, were of particular relevance in that regard. The results add to a growing body of literature that implicates deleterious neurocognitive effects in participants of a sport such as rugby due to repetitive head jarring incidents that are intrinsic to the game.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:rhodes/vital:3257 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Zoccola, Diana |
| Publisher | Rhodes University, Faculty of Humanities, Psychology |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Doctoral, PhD |
| Format | 334 leaves, pdf |
| Rights | Zoccola, Diana |
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