Sports Science: The Science of the Scrum

when two football teams line up against

each other nose to nose it's called the

line of scrimmage and rugby they call it

a scrum the rugby scrum is historically

the most dangerous moment in sports so

to find out more about this battle in

the trenches we brought 16 rugby

bruisers onto our astroturf playing

surface

and the man in charge is legendary coach

Scott Johnson

Johnson is a rugby guru whose previous

coaching jobs in Wales and Australia led

him to the head coaching position for

the u.s. national rugby team nothing

makes me happier and seeing rugby bikes

knocked it out of each other regularly

on big stadiums around the world

rugby is the most dangerous team sport

in the world

of all the most serious injuries occur

during this fight for possession this

crop let's see if we can share the world

how it's done a true contest for

possession here's how it's supposed to

work

crouch

touch

pause

and yogi

after the two teams engage a polite way

of saying slam together the ball is

thrown into the gap between the front

rows the two center players known as the

hookers try to snag the ball with their

feet

knocking it backwards where it's picked

up and advanced down the field the ball

now has been won dr. Robert Bray is a

neurological spinal surgeon and a former

rugby player a rugby scrum when it comes

together as the forces meet in the

middle can generate up to 1.5 tons of

force 3,000 pounds of force that's like

giving a piggyback ride to a full-grown

rhinoceros

but all that force is spread out over

two teams when a scrum collapses the

guys in the middle the hookers are in

serious jeopardy hookers are especially

vulnerable because their arms are pinned

behind their backs when a scrum

collapses the first thing to hit the

ground is the hookers head

so that gut is wondering how much damage

can be inflicted when a scrum goes bad

can it lead to paralysis or worse our

hybrid 3 crash-test dummy is about to

participate in the most dangerous moment

in sports three two one

Oh

that you went straight to the ground

the dummy said plows into the turn with

1,100 pounds of force

that's like getting pancaked by NFL

behemoths Casey Hampton

but all the force is concentrated on the

net we saw with our crash-test dummy our

loads that would definitely cause

fractures to occur in the cervical spine

and you could have anything from

paralysis to a fatality

with the severe torque or bending force

the ligaments running up the spinal

column can tear loose as the neck is

unnaturally bent the injury created is

called a hyper flexion injury which

means the heads rolled down and forced

forward and it actually dislocates the

mid neck and can sever the spinal cord

these grave injuries are why rugby

leagues around the world are trying to

refine the rules to make this scrum

safer if I knew then what I know now as

a neuroscientist and neurosurgeon

I wouldn't played through college and

beyond but despite the evidence nothing

will keep rugby players from their

favorite bone-crunching game

you got to play for 80 minutes non-stop

and no protection it's a crazy game