“Crouch, Bind, Set” technique leads to safer rugby scrums [Video]

Even though not that many rugby injuries occur in scrums – less than 10% – when they do, they can be severe, making up around 40% of serious injuries.

As opposing sides collide together in the scrum while vying for forward momentum, players experience considerable multidirectional forces. These repeated collisions may lead to both acute and longer-term degenerative injuries, such as arthritis.

With around 5-6 million rugby players worldwide, efforts to reduce this force could have a huge positive impact on the long-term health of many of the world’s rugby players. But this needed to be achieved with minimal effect on the scrum’s competitive nature.

The Rugby Science team at University of Bath conducted a two-phase study funded by the ​International Rugby Board (IRB) across a wide range of teams, from schoolboy to elite international level, to:

• establish the degree of force that front row players are subjected to in their upper …