Why forward play does not have to be a pain in the neck

Rugby coaching tips for forward play, by Dr Sally Lark, senior lecturer in the Faculty of Health, Sport and Science at the University of Glamorgan.

Coaches need to take better precautions with their players' necks to ensure longer rugby careers and less damage to their necks in the future.

I have identified that rugby players suffer from poor neck motion, compared to players of other sports. You won't be surprised to hear that forwards are far worse off than backs.

A forward's neck range of motion is sometimes so bad it is similar to people suffering acute whiplash injury.

The range of movement in your neck deteriorates over time with age, but playing rugby exacerbates the problems.

You, as a rugby coach, should take care of your players by educating and training them in three vital phases:

Pre-season.
Pre-match and training.
Post-match and training.

Resistance work can use weights and body weight. However I strongly caution against two common errors in training.

Don't use hyperflex or over-extend the neck

Hyperflexing means the neck is at the very edge of its normal range of movement, where it is at its weakest. For example, if your player is lifting a weight, he should not start the movement with his chin on or near his chest, or extended backwards.

Any rugby drill should start with the neck in a neutral position, with the upper spine in line with the thoracic and lumbar spine.
Always build up the weight gradually within a strength training session even if you managed to lift a large weight in the last session, as there may be some small damage to the neck from playing or training that can be exacerbated by lifting a heavy weight.

Don't circle the neck

The spine is not a ball and socket joint like the shoulders. It will respond to sideways, rotation (which means looking from side to side), and up and down movements.

However when it is circled around, this is an unnatural way for the neck to work and so puts the wrong sorts of strains on the muscles.

Forwards need strong necks

Ironically a stiffer neck is equated to a stronger neck, and forwards are thought to be better off with "stiff" necks, not (hyper) flexible necks for the scrum situation.

Importantly, however, strength does not have to occur at the expense of normal neck motion. It is still important that forwards players can scan the field of play quickly.

Most of the strength training outside rugby training should be based on developing strength within a certain range of motion and not necessarily increasing extra flexibility as stability is needed in the scrum, and head-on collision tackles which are characteristics of the forwards play.

This article is from my monthly International Rugby Technical Journal publication.

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