Retired professional rugby players face an increased risk of cervical spine degeneration, doctors warn today.
Acute cervical spine injuries have previously been studied in high-level contact sports but "the relation between the appearance of degenerative cervical spine disease and the exposure to repeated trauma in such sports as rugby is still unclear," say Dr David Brauge of the Hospital Purpan, Toulouse, France, in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine.
They team carried out clinical tests and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans on a group of 101 former male rugby players and 85 male volunteers matched on age, job, current sports training, and smoking habits.
Results showed that significantly more former rugby players complained of chronic neck pain – 51% versus 32%. They also had significantly reduced neck mobility. On MRI scans, the former rugby players had a significantly narrower vertebral canal, on average. But no significant difference were found for other degenerative lesions.
Surgery for a degenerative condition was more common among former rugby players (10% versus 0%). These operations were all for disc herniation and radiculopathy, but in most cases the players continued to play after their surgery. This "indicates that spine surgery does not completely prohibit contact sports in professional athletes," the researchers state.
Dr Brauge commented: "A few years after the end of their careers, professional rugby players seem to have more degenerative symptoms and lesions on the cervical spine. These symptoms are exceptionally disabling (three of 101 cases in this study). Our definitive conclusion should be reasonably prudent; we still can’t assert that the lesions worsen with time or that the disease stabilises with the end of the rugby activity."
Brauge, D. et al. Clinical and radiological cervical spine evaluation in retired professional rugby players. Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine 21 July 2015; doi: 10.3171/2015.1.SPINE14594
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