BASHED UP BOKS BAG BARGAINS: RUGBY HEALTHCARE COSTS REVEALED!

BASHED UP BOKS BAG BARGAINS: RUGBY HEALTHCARE COSTS REVEALED

• Essential maintenance for an English rugby player costs more than £16,000 a year; South African players would have to fork out just £6,000 for the same treatments
• Top-of-the-range mouth guards can set you back up to £800, yet enquiries more than triple (222%) in past 12 months
• Enquiries for sports massages increase five fold (418%) in the past year; deep tissue massages up 269%
• Physiotherapist almost three times more in England (£41) than South Africa (£14)
• Treatment for cauliflower ear costs an average of £2,000 in the UK

Sunday 16 November 2014 – England might have lost by just three points to South Africa in Saturday’s Autumn International, but it looks like the team’s wallets might be dented even more than their pride when it comes to aftercare, according to new research by private healthcare search engine, WhatClinic.com.

WhatClinic looked at the average cost of treatments that an international rugby star might need throughout the course of a year – including deep tissue massages, sports strapping and taping, sports therapy and chiropractic sessions, amongst others. The research showed that the yearly maintenance cost for an England rugby player, without major injuries, would be £16,511 – two and a half times that of their South African counterparts (£6,269).

Should any of the England squad require knee rehabilitation, the cost per session would be £40 – more than double that of their Springbok rival (£18). Sports strapping and taping costs an average of £44 in the UK, five times more than in South Africa (£10). However, this is small change compared to one Swindon clinic that charges up to £225 for the treatment.

The average cost of a sports mouth guard in the UK is £82 but can cost significantly more, with more clinic in Devizes, Wiltshire, charging  as much as £800. Despite the cost, enquiries for mouth guards have more than tripled (222%) in the past 12 months. A sports massage in England will cost you £38 a pop – a third more than in South Africa (£22), yet enquiries have skyrocketed five-fold (418%) in the past year.

In a recent survey[1], six out of ten (59%) healthcare professionals stated that rugby players are more prone to injury than players of other sports, with almost three quarters (73%) having seen a distinct rise in sports related injuries in the past three years. Despite almost a third (31%) saying that those over 35 years of age should not play full contact rugby, a quarter (25%) stated that the most common age for injury was in those between 19 and 23 years old.

The most common rugby-related injuries seen by GP’s are concussions, fracture, spinal injuries, chronic knee injuries and dislocations, while plastic surgeons listed nasal fractures, lacerations and scarring. However, one surgeon listed his youngest patient treated for cauliflower ear as being just 12 years old.

The following table shows the cost of ten maintenance treatments needed by an international rugby player, as well as the potential cost across the course of a year:

Emily Ross, director of WhatClinic.com, says: “Rugby players, especially at an international level, put their bodies through serious strain on a daily basis. Without even considering the cost of a major injury, the maintenance of keeping a player in peak physical condition can cost thousands of pounds every year.

“If you do play a lot of sport, remember just how important it is to look after yourself on and off the pitch, and always seek medical advice for strains and injuries. Concussions can be incredibly dangerous and not all players have a team of medical professionals to advise and treat. 

“Should you be unfortunate enough to sustain an injury during sport, especially a head injury of any type – don’t play fast and loose with your health by ignoring it.  There are no winners when it comes to serious injury.”