Return to play rugby

This advice is meant to guide you back to rugby quickly and more importantly safely with less risk of re-injury. If you have any questions or are unable to return to sport you should discuss your injury with a Physiotherapist. You can contact the NHS Physiotherapy service on 01792 487453.

Follow each of the stages below in order, do not move on until you can manage all the tasks in that stage without pain or swelling for 24 hours afterwards. You will complete some stages faster than others, this is normal.

STAGE 1 – PAIN-FREE
full pain-free movement in the injured joint / muscle	No pain or swelling after normal daily activities (e.g. dressing, walking, stairs etc.)

STAGE 2 – BASIC FUNCTION
Lower limb injury	Upper limb injury
Balance on 1 leg for 20 seconds	1 full range pull-up
Hop on 1 leg 10 times	1 full range bodyweight dip

STAGE 3 – BASIC FITNESS

Jogging Backs should be able to jog 5km pain free

Forwards should be able to jog 3km pain-free

Sprinting complete both drills:

(1) 20m walk, lie on your front, 20m run, lie on your back, 20m sprint. Be able to repeat this drill at full speed at least 10 times

for example: walk from the dead ball line to goal line, down & up,

run to 22m line, down & up, sprint to 10m line. Rest and then repeat

(2) Players should be able to complete the 1200m shuttle / Broncho test

STAGE 3 – BASIC FITNESS continued

Strength back to a minimum 75% of your pre-injury weightlifting for squat, deadlift, shoulder press, bench press e.g. if you could deadlift 160kg before, you should be back to at least 120kg

Agility and Confidence

Complete 5 falling press-ups from the knees

STAGE 4 – AGILITY & NON-CONTACT TRAINING

Complete a full non-contact training session, discuss this with your coach. Avoid tackling, being tackled, contested scrums, contested mauls and contested rucks. You can try using tackle bags, run, change direction, covering a loose ball, pass and lineouts

Strength Back to a minimum 85% your pre-injury weightlifting for squat, deadlift, shoulder press, bench press

e.g. if you could deadlift 160kg before, you should be back to at least 135kg

Agility and confidence – complete all 3

(1) 1 falling press-up from standing

(2) A star balance test in the press-up position (See video)

(3) A triple hop test both sides – there should be less than 5% difference e.g. if you can cover 500cm on one leg, you should cover at least 475cm on the other leg

STAGE 5 - CONTACT TRAINING

Rugby Training complete 2 full contact training sessions

Sprinting repeat drill (1) from stage 3 at full speed at least 20 times

rest no more than 2 minutes after 10 repetitions if needed

STAGE 6 – RETURN TO RUGBY

Once you have completed all the above stages and tests you should be ready to play matches