Gloucester’s Head of Medical Services on the landmark research that aims to make rugby safer for the elite and grassroots players.
Watch the full chat with Rhys Hughes below:
Gloucester Rugby at the forefront of making the game safer
Concussion and connected conditions is a concern in all contact sports. But Gloucester Rugby Club isn’t ignoring the issue. In fact, in the past season it united with a team of scientists at Oxford University to find out more about head injuries.
Rhys Hughes is head of medical services for the cherry and whites and says the depth and breadth of data tracked was huge.
“We’re looking at any episode that might cause a concussive episode. So they’re taking things like blood samples, saliva samples, neck strength, pupillometry, Hughes told Sport and Life.
“We’re looking at what happens in the brain electronically and scanning using an MRI machine that’s on the back of a lorry at Kingsholm. We can put a player in within the first few hours post-game after a head injury.”
More knowledge means more power to change the game
The study doesn’t have a specific targeted outcome. But rather it’s another thread in rugby’s multilayered quest to protect its players.
“We don’t really know what we’re going to find. It’s never been done before. There’s been a lot of time and a lot of investment put in place to make the game safer in many avenues, like the gum shields we’ve seen coming in over the last couple of seasons.
“There’s the concussion protocol rolled out across world rugby. And there are near on a hundred professionals up and down the country who work at professional clubs who are invested in player welfare and health.”
Contact sports come with risk but risk is a part of life
The consequences of head impacts aren’t just being looked at in rugby. Boxers and MMA Fighters often pay a price for their fighting exploits and there has been growing concern in football about the longterm consequences of heading the ball.
Hughes agrees with my suggestion that contact sports will always carry some risk, but the key is players having the knowledge to inform the decision to play.
“To a point there is a risk with everything we do in day to day life. It’s about learning more about it and educating everyone as much as we can. There’s been a huge shift in sport, particularly in rugby union. I think rugby union is a world leader in sport around concussion at the moment.”
Rugby better than football for keen physios
Hughes speaks with passion and purpose. Injuries aren’t a problem to him, but rather a challenge he sought out. He moved to Gloucester in 2018 after starting his career in physiotherapy at Sheffield United Football Club. The relative abundance of injuries in rugby union motivated him to switch sports.
“We have some weeks in football where you don’t see injuries and you become essentially a glorified masseuse. And it came down to ‘if I’m really excelling and pushing myself what do I need here?’ And at the time it was ‘I need to go and experience more injuries’ and rugby gives you that.”
Hughes says that while in general there is more money in football, rugby clubs tend to devote more time and resource to player recovery.
“I would say that rugby is probably ahead of the game in some principles in terms of sports science and the way we manage players because there is a little more opportunity to do that.
“There’s a little bit more awareness we need to invest more in sports science, strength and conditioning and injury prevention to the get the most from our squads.”
Physiotherapy as a force for good in sport and wider life
It’s good to know keen minds like Hughes and his colleagues are working hard to make sport safer. And he says physiotherapy is a force for good across wider society too.
“There are so many good physiotherapists who do a brilliant job day in and out. There are avenues you can go down in respiratory care, medical care and neurology. The NHS is a wonderful organisation that doesn’t get enough credit.”
A lot of problems stem from a poor pelvis position
Does he have any tips for us regular Cheltenham and Gloucester people to avoid and manage injuries? Well…have you ever considered the position of your pelvis?
“If you can get a really good pelvis position and that’s your base and foundation of support, that’s what really harnesses the spine to be in a good position and then the legs to be in a good position underneath it and the hips to be aligned. Knees aligned under that… and ankles aligned under that.”
While we address our pelvis position we can rest assured Hughes and his team are labouring to maintain the wellbeing of the Gloucester rugby players in the short and long term.
We’ll keep you posted on the results of the study, which are due out later in 2026.
