Rugby’s return to the Olympic Games following the debut of rugby sevens in Rio 2016 this summer brought the game to new global audiences as the Olympic effect on participation continues apace.
With record numbers taking up the sport, player welfare continues to be World Rugby’s number-one priority and as part of ongoing efforts to reflect this, World Rugby is once again pleased to be a patron of the upcoming IOC World Conference on Prevention of Injury and Illness in Sport taking place in Monaco from 16-18 March, 2017.
World Rugby began its patronage of the event in 2014 when the previous edition took place in Monaco. On that occasion, more than 1,000 delegates from around the world gathered to present and discuss new scientific results and implementation strategies to best prevent injuries and illnesses in sport.
The 2017 IOC conference will present a multidisciplinary perspective on injury and illness prevention for different sports and different injury/illness types, including lectures on intervention methods, epidemiology, risk factors and injury mechanisms.
The three-day programme will include five keynote lectures, 33 symposia and numerous workshops, in addition to free communications and posters. Abstracts presented at the conferences will be published in a special themed issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM).
World Rugby’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Martin Raftery said: “Player welfare is World Rugby’s number-one priority as increasing numbers of participants are attracted to our sport worldwide. Our patronage of this conference reiterates this commitment to ensure that, irrespective of their playing level, players can enjoy rugby in a safe environment and reduce the risk of injury and illness through best practice. We look forward to medical experts and professionals from the rugby family sharing their research findings and experiences while collaborating with their peers from the Olympic family.”
