Treatment Table: Dermot Simpson on Ireland’s Rugby World Cup injuries

IN THE FIRST in a series of columns, Donegal’s 2012 All-Ireland winning physiotherapist Dermot Simpson looks at the impact of injury on Ireland’s Rugby World Cup hopes.

“One of the talking points from this years Rugby World Cup has been the injury rates sustained by some of the top teams,” Dermot says.

“Up until the French match, Ireland had come through relatively unscathed.  However, against better quality teams such as the French, the games carry higher intensity, more contacts and more injuries.  Rugby carries a rate of around 70 injuries per 1000 playing hours, Gaelic football and soccer are 44 and 35 injuries per 1000 hours respectively.

“Added to that, the players are playing Test games every six or seven days for the past four weeks.  It should be accepted that more injuries will occur during a World Cup period due to the calibre of teams, intensity of games and reduced recovery time.

“Ireland have gave away very little information about their injuries sustained, which is not surprising as that information can provide ammunition for the opposing teams.  

“Johnny Sexton had been given time to prove fitness in this tomorrow’s quarter-final against Argentina in Cardiff, however he has just failed a fitness test during the Captain’s Run.  

“I’m sure everything had been done to prepare him for this match.  This will have involved an initial period of rest, ice and compression following by extensive rehab, one-to-one physiotherapy work and possibly pain-killing injection and taping.  However, the average return to play for an injury like that would be around 15 days, so it is no surprise that he has been ruled out.

“Groin injuries can be injured from excessive kicking which leads to fatigue in the groins.  It is common for teams to test groin strength before every training or match.  If a player’s groin strength has fallen by more than 10% from his baseline, he is deemed at risk of a groin injury.  

“New Zealand’s out-half Dan Carter missed the 2011 World Cup because of a groin injury while Jonny Wilkinson, who wore the No 10 shirt for England, suffered a similar fate at the end of a long 2013 season with Toulon, which forced him out of the Lions tour.  It’s unknown if the injury sustained by Sexton was from the tackle by the French player or if it was an injury that he carried into the game.

“Paul O’Connell underwent surgery on an hamstring avulsion injury (where the muscle pulls away from the bone) during the week.  A surgery is preferred over conservative rehabilitation when the resection of the tendon from the bone is greater than two centimetres.  

“It’s a major operation with a prolonged period of rehab afterwards.  Having signed for Toulon for two seasons, it’s unlikely to see Paul O’Connell wear the Toulon colours until this time next year.  Kerry Gaelic footballer Tommy Walsh sustained the same injury while playing for Sydney Swans in 2013.  He only played a handful of games for the Swans afterwards before returning to Kerry.

“The third Irish player ruled out of the tournament, after O’Connell and Jared Payne, is Peter O’Mahoney.  It has been reported quite vaguely as a knee ligament injury which will take a ‘prolonged period of time’ to recover from.  

“If it was a medial knee ligament injury, we can expect him back in six weeks to two months whereas a cruciate ligament reconstruction can take anything from six months to nine months.  I’m sure we will find out more information on his injury in the coming weeks.

Dermot Simpson pictured this week with Michael Conlan, who defeated Murodjon Akhmadaliev of Uzbekistan in the bantamweight final to become the first Irishman ever to win World Championship gold in Doha on Wednesday

“A huge congratulations must go to Michael Conlan, who won Ireland’s first ever gold medal at the World Amateur Boxing Championships in Qatar.  He currently holds gold in the European, World and Commonwealth games.  We’ll be hoping he can continue this form into the Rio Olympics next year.”

Dermot Simpson is a physiotherapist currently working at Aspetar, a world renowned sports medicine clinic in Doha, Qatar.  Dermot has been team physiotherapist for Donegal senior football team from the 2012 to 2015 seasons.  

He holds an undergraduate degree in physiotherapy and as well as a Masters in Sports Physiotherapy from UCD, Dublin.  Dermot is the owner of Donegal Physiotherapy & Sports Injury Clinic in Letterkenny and Inishowen Physiotherapy & Sports Injury Clinic in Carndonagh.  

He will write weekly articles on sporting injuries, injury prevention and rehabilitation for Donegal Sports Hub.

Dermot’s website is donegalphysio.ie and he can be contacted on Donegal Physiotherpay Facebook.