Making sport safer through Bath research

Our research into sports injury and illness prevention reflects the impact that our research is having across elite, community and youth sports. 

Bringing real-world industry expertise to Bath’s sporting strategy 

Professor Tim Hollingsworth, Department of Health, is a Professor in Practice for Sport at the University of Bath and supports the delivery of the University’s overall strategy and mission for sport. His role is helping to create better integration of teaching and research for sport and physical activity, as well as the external application of injury prevention research across the sector and positive promotion of the work that Bath is leading. 

Before joining the University of Bath, Professor Hollingsworth held senior leadership positions at Sport England, the British Paralympic Association and UK Sport, helping shape policy and practice across grassroots and elite sport. 

Providing a safe and welcoming environment for inclusive sport 

Professor Hollingsworth highlights figures from Sport England which show that for every £1 invested in English sport and physical activity, there is a £4.38 return on investment. This generates an estimated £122.9 billion annually, demonstrating the significant value of grassroots sport, not only for the economy, but for health, wellbeing and society. However, an estimated £150 billion a year is lost to sport injuries. 

“I think the focus now on injury prevention is really important. Whether you look at our children and young people in schools, the adult population who are participating formally, the elite end of sports performance as a career, or those playing sport informally as part of their everyday lives, injury prevention is a fundamental underpinning factor in all those environments.” 

Professor Hollingsworth emphasises the importance of mental health and wellbeing alongside injury prevention. He points to evidence from the annual Active Lives Children and Young People Survey, launched by Sport England in 2017, which shows that the more active young people are, the happier they register. 

“People automatically think about physical injury in sport. But actually, when I talk about a safe and welcoming environment, one of the most important things is how that promotes positivity and mental health. It enables young people to feel part of a community where they might have felt excluded. It's thinking very much about mental health and wellbeing, as well as physical injury, and how people feel about themselves, their sense of agency, and their sense of belonging.” 

Making evidence-based decisions to support sporting organisations 

As a Professor in Practice for Sport and sector expert, Professor Hollingsworth is well aware of the value in expert analysis that universities can bring to sports injury prevention and sector influence. Emphasising the benefit of research for greatest impact, he says: “This evidence base helps us to better protect individuals and athletes from injury or illness in a way that ultimately generates a greater return.” 

Informing injury prevention for rugby around the world 

Keith Stokes, Professor of Applied Physiology in the Department for Health at the University of Bath, is the Medical Research Lead at the Rugby Football Union (RFU). A member of the Bath Centre for Sport, Exercise, and Performance Medicine at the University, Professor Stokes’ research has informed injury prevention strategies in elite, community and youth rugby. 

Informing the global change to the Rugby Union scrum law 

Rugby Union is one of the most popular team sports in the world but, being a contact sport, also carries a high risk of injury. Working in partnership with the international governing body, World Rugby, Professor Stokes’ research led to the ‘Crouch, Bind, Set’ technique in rugby union, making the rugby scrum safer for millions of players around the world. He co-led this research with Dr Grant Trewartha, alongside Dr Ezio Preatoni, Dr Dario Cazzola and Elena Seminati, all from the Department for Health.

In 2014, World Rugby announced the global adoption of scrum laws based on Professor Stokes’ research that would be used by all players at all levels of the game. The new laws have contributed to a reduction in injuries, including the most serious, catastrophic spinal injuries. 

Of all the spinal injuries that occur in rugby, 40% of these occur in the scrum. Needless to say, these life changing injuries have an incredible impact on the lives of the injured individuals and their families and friends. 

In addition to the physical toll, there is also a substantial cost implication. It is estimated that the lifetime cost of supporting a young individual in the UK who sustains a spinal injury that results in permanent impairment is £10 million to £20 million.

In professional rugby in England, since the adoption of the new scrum law, there has been a significant 40% reduction in scrum-related injuries that lead to players missing training or playing time before and after the law change. 

Developing Activate: rugby's injury prevention exercise programme

Professor Stokes also led the first rugby-specific injury prevention exercise programme, Activate, as part of the University of Bath’s Community Rugby Injury Surveillance Project (CRISP) with Dr Grant Trewartha, Dr Carly McKay, Dr Sean Williams and Dr Simon Roberts. 

In 2018 the RFU, comprising the world’s largest community playing population, and World Rugby adopted and disseminated Activate as their primary injury prevention programme for community-level rugby. Both organisations invested in educational resources, delivery support and coach training to maximise uptake and impact. 

Sharing best practice 

In June 2026, Professor Stokes co-organised the International Conference on Injury and Illness Prevention in Sport at the University of Bath as part of the UK Collaborating Centre on Injury and Illness Prevention in Sport (UKCCIIS) – an International Olympic Committee (IOC)-funded research centre between the Universities of Bath and Edinburgh. 

The global sports injury conference emphasised translating cutting-edge research into applied practice for keeping sports people safe and fit, exploring the latest evidence, innovations and practice in athlete health and welfare.

Trailblazing female athlete health in professional cricket 

Bath’s sport research into injury prevention in sport does not just focus on rugby and football though. Katie Stanislas is a final year PhD student from the Department for Health and member of the Bath Centre for Sport, Exercise, and Performance Medicine. She is researching health protection in female cricket, co-funded by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). 

Katie’s research explores injury epidemiology across the professional pathway in England and Wales, and includes academy, domestic and international players. This work sought to identify key patterns in injuries, including when injuries are occurring and body regions most affected.

Two trends have emerged in the women’s game. Thigh injuries are common across the pathway, and lumbar spine injuries resulted in the greatest time lost from cricket. We have a responsibility to understand the risks created by the specific demands of cricket, and lumbar spine injury is an important issue across the men’s and women’s games. Bowling is a highly repetitive action that places substantial load through the lumbar spine, and understanding how these demands relate to lumber spine injury is an important area for future research. 

Katie’s research has also explored female-specific athlete health through annual menstrual cycle and pelvic health screening. She says: “We found between 14% and 36% of players reported some level of urinary leaking when exercising, which highlights how common this can be within some groups of players. We also identified menstrual cycle irregularity, with 14% to 29% of players reporting infrequent menstrual cycles.  

"This really is only the starting point, we need to better understand these areas of female athlete health and their impact on players across the pathway. It's also important not to assume that what is known or applied in the men's game necessarily translates directly to female athletes. There are so many female-specific considerations, such as menstrual cycle, pelvic health, breast health, hormonal and reproductive health that may impact players' health, wellbeing and performance. It is important that these are captured and understood to promote and support athlete-centred, holistic care."

Informing policy change to reduce injury rates in Scottish academy football 

Steve Curnyn, PhD candidate in the Department for Health and member of the Bath Centre for Sport, Exercise, and Performance Medicine, has spent most of his career working in academy settings within professional football. His research focuses on the impact that growth and maturation can have on player selection, growth-related injuries and training interventions to mitigate them. 

Steve was approached by the Scottish Football Association (SFA) to apply his research to all academies within the SFA, from ages 11 to 19. This was funded through a PhD which began exploring biases that existed within the talent identification process in clubs across Scotland. 

“Across all youth sport there is a tendency to favour big early developing boys over those that have a later pubertal growth spurt,” says Steve.

Following on from the success of identifying the talent selection biases, working with Professor Sean Cumming and Dr Sean Williams, also from the Department for Health, an injury surveillance began. The research demonstrated the relationship between growth and maturation on injury risk. This informed a training intervention named ‘The Growers Club’ which was then placed in clubs to help mitigate growth related injuries.  

Steve says: “This is the first time injury surveillance has been done across multiple clubs in one nation. The biggest things that we've found, consistent across all the clubs that took part, is that once the kids hit a certain percentage of the pubertal growth spurt combined with significant growth velocity there is far more likelihood of non-contact injury, such as muscle tears, strains and sprains, particularly around the knee, ankle and hips. The under 14 age group has the highest risk factor for any injury incidence, followed by the under 18 age group.”