Welshrugbyphysio

Directions Website Contact the business

Welshrugbyphysio Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Welshrugbyphysio, Caerphilly (Caerffili).

Rugby Injury Prevention And Rehabilitation

The aim of this page is to share my knowledge and experience of 25 + years working In Rugby Union as a Lead Physio and Head of Medical services for Professional club and international rugby teams

09/10/2026

🏉 DISTAL BICEPS TENDON RUPTURE IN RUGBY PLAYERS – WHAT TO LOOK FOR!

A back-row rugby player sustains a traumatic elbow injury during a rolling maul, involving a heavy eccentric load + forced elbow hyperextension 🔑

🚩 Key clinical signs:

• Mechanism: Sudden eccentric overload of the biceps during contact, often with the elbow forced into extension 🔑

• History: Sudden sharp pain in the front of the elbow, often accompanied by an audible or palpable POP

• Weakness: Reduced elbow flexion strength, but forearm SUPINATION weakness is often the biggest functional deficit💯

• Deformity: Proximal retraction of the biceps muscle belly, creating a reverse Popeye appearance💪

• Bruising: Swelling + ecchymosis around the antecubital fossa, sometimes extending down the forearm

• Hook Test: Inability to hook a finger beneath the distal biceps tendon suggests a complete rupture🤝

• Imaging: Ultrasound or MRI to confirm the rupture, assess tendon retraction + guide surgical planning

🚨 TIME MATTERS!

Suspected complete distal biceps ruptures require urgent orthopaedic referral. Early surgical repair is generally recommended for high-demand rugby players to restore flexion + supination strength

Delays can make primary repair more challenging😓

Don’t miss this injury on the rugby pitch!

I go into this and all other rugby injuries as a quick but also detailed reference guide in the 2nd half of My new book!📕

📕Rugby Injury Prevention + Return to Play

Available on - link in bio 🔗

Best wishes

Chris



🏉Rugby Throwback Thursday with London Welsh Rugby Club Bit of reflection after yesterday reel/post and to confirm …… ev...
08/10/2026

🏉Rugby Throwback Thursday with London Welsh Rugby Club

Bit of reflection after yesterday reel/post and to confirm …… even though being Head Physio ラグビーワールドカップ 2019 and doing the opening game was the biggest night of my career ……

My ❤️ and RugbyPhysio Soul still burns these memories with my LWRFC Family 🔥

A lot of people reading this won’t understand that , but those years 2008-2014 were golden where the character was made ….. many players , staff and coaches have gone to do big things in their career (currently working in international rugby with WRU etc) but London Welsh RFC was a big development point for all 🫶

The stories😅 :

The players from all over the world and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Marine Camps - sinking ship simulator and helicopter crash evacuation into a swimming pool ( some lads couldn’t swim and still did it 🤯

Club running out of money to fund a Pro Team …. No job on Monday after the game type speeches every so often

Fake investors (gangsters)

Promotion from Elior Champ Rugby

Being told you can’t be promoted RFU

Going to court to get promoted and winning said case vs RFU

Everyone happy that we were promoted ….

Then fixture list came out and we had Leicester Tigers at home on the Sunday , then on Monday night Wasps Rugby ‘A’ game and then following Friday Harlequins 🃏 away at the stoop …… with no academy squad - welcome to PREM Rugby
3 Games in 6 days - where is the load management 😅😂

6th place for 12 hours qualifying for Champions Cup after beating Sale away with out ho**er Neil Briggs refusing to come off the field against his former team with his shoulder and nose hanging by a thread 😅

Relegation 😭

Promotion Again beating Bristol Bears away in the 2013/14 Final with Justin Burnell

And the list goes on

Amazing memories

Have a good Thursday

Best wishes

Chris Chris Jenkins | Rugby Injury Sports Physiotherapist

Can a £100+ headguard really prevent concussion? 🧠🏉Products such as Rezon Halos + N-Pro report impressive reductions in ...
07/10/2026

Can a £100+ headguard really prevent concussion? 🧠🏉

Products such as Rezon Halos + N-Pro report impressive reductions in impact forces in laboratory testing 🧫🔬🥽🧑‍🔬👩‍🔬

Some of these findings are genuinely interesting + deserve further investigation🧐

But there’s an important distinction:

Reducing forces in a laboratory ≠ proving fewer concussions or less brain injury in real rugby players 🏉

Traditional soft-padded rugby headgear has not been shown to significantly reduce concussion incidence. Newer products may perform differently — but we need the clinical evidence 🧐

🔬 MY CHALLENGE TO THE MANUFACTURERS

Let’s test these products properly

I’d like to see independent, adequately powered prospective trials — ideally RCTs where feasible + ethical — involving real rugby players🧠🏉

Go beyond simply counting concussions:

• Head-impact exposure
• Concussion incidence + severity
• Symptoms + recovery time
• Neurocognitive outcomes
• Advanced neuroimaging + objective biomarkers in research settings
• Longer-term follow-up
• Independent publication of the results

The key question is:

Do reductions in laboratory-measured impact forces actually translate into fewer concussions + less measurable brain injury?

If they do, that could be hugely important for rugby🏉

But headgear is only one potential layer

We also need:

🏉 Better laws + enforcement
🏉 Better tackle technique
🏉 Smarter contact exposure — especially in youth rugby
🏉 Progressive contact preparation
🏉 Neck + shoulder strength
🏉 Excellent concussion recognition + removal
🏉 Individualised rehabilitation + return to sport

We won’t solve rugby’s concussion problem with a headband alone💯

Promising biomechanical evidence should drive better clinical research — not be confused with proof of clinical effectiveness✅

📕 More on concussion rehabilitation, contact preparation + injury prevention in Rugby Injury Prevention & Return To Play — available on Amazon

Would you take part in a large-scale rugby headgear trial?

Evidence Based Post ✅

Chris Jenkins | Rugby Injury Sports Physiotherapist

07/10/2026

🏉 One of the best memories of my career 2012 🫶🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

So many good , legendary people and friends in that changing room +team across players and staff ❤️❤️❤️

Celebrating in the changing room after London Welsh beat Cornish Pirates to win the Championship in 2012 and secure promotion to the Premiership🏆

I was fortunate enough to spend six years at London Welsh from 2008–2014, and that period gave me some incredible experiences, friendships + memories🙌

I’ve since worked internationally, been to a World Cup in 2019 + even written a 600+ page book on rugby injuries… but this still takes some beating🔥

There’s something very special about winning together as a 🏉 team

It’s also brilliant to see London Welsh fighting their way back through the leagues and into the National Leagues again🏉👍

A club with so much history + one I’ll always have a huge affection for 💯

Wishing everyone at London Welsh a great season ❤️🏉

And I suppose many of the lessons + experiences from those years eventually found their way into my book Rugby Injury Prevention & Return to Play📕

Available now on Amazon link in bio 🔗

Best wishes

Chris


🏉54 Amazon reviews ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Still sitting at 4.8/5🏉When I published Rugby Injury Prevention & Return to Play, I wanted ...
06/10/2026

🏉54 Amazon reviews ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Still sitting at 4.8/5🏉

When I published Rugby Injury Prevention & Return to Play, I wanted to create something genuinely practical — a book that translates the evidence into what actually happens on the pitch, in the gym and in the treatment room✅

Seeing it reach 54 reviews while maintaining a 4.8/5 rating means a huge amount🙌

Written for players, parents, coaches, physios, therapists, students and rugby clubs, it covers the whole journey:

🏉 Injury prevention
🏉 Practical rehabilitation
🏉 Return-to-play decision making
🏉 Rugby-specific progressions
🏉 Real-world clinical application

Thank you to everyone who has bought it, recommended it or taken the time to leave a review🙏

Every review genuinely helps an independent /self published book like this reach more people in rugby 🏉

📕 Paperback available now on Amazon
📱 Kindle + Kindle Unlimited coming soon

Practical
Evidence-informed
Rugby real

Best wishes

Chris
Chris Jenkins | Rugby Injury Sports Physiotherapist

🏉 SHOULD CHILDREN TACKLE DEBATE?Source : UKCOACHINGWe know contact carries riskBut does removing it completely create an...
04/10/2026

🏉 SHOULD CHILDREN TACKLE DEBATE?

Source : UKCOACHING

We know contact carries risk

But does removing it completely create another?

A new 2026 paper questions the ethics of exposing children to contact sport +raises the possibility of delaying tackling until 16–18 years of age

The case for reducing exposure is compelling:

🧠 Concussion is an important injury in youth rugby
🏉 The tackle is a major mechanism of injury
⚠️ Repetitive head-impact exposure is a legitimate concern

But there is no scientifically established age at which tackling suddenly becomes safe

And we don’t yet know whether delaying contact until later adolescence produces better outcomes than introducing it earlier through carefully controlled, progressive exposure

Earlier, low-dose contact may help players develop:

🏉 Tackle technique
💪 Physical capacity
🧠 Decision-making and perceptual skills
📈 Confidence and contact competency

before they become bigger, faster and stronger

But we need better evidence here too

So perhaps this isn’t simply:

CONTACT vs NO CONTACT

Perhaps the more useful question is:

What is the MINIMUM EFFECTIVE DOSE of contact?

Enough to develop a competent, confident rugby player while minimising unnecessary collision and head-impact exposure

Treat contact like a training load:

Have a purpose
Dose it
Progress it
Monitor it

The challenge is balancing two objectives:

🧠 Protect the developing player

AND

🏉 Prepare them appropriately for adult rugby

We don’t yet know exactly where that balance lies

That’s the debate rugby needs to have

👇 Where do you stand: delay tackling until later adolescence, or progressively develop contact competency from an earlier age?

Evidence note: The “minimum effective dose” is a proposed framework for discussion, not an established or validated youth-rugby protocol. Evidence on the optimal age, dose and progression of contact remains incomplete

📕 I explore tackle injury prevention, contact preparation, youth rugby injuries, and shoulder and neck injury prevention in Rugby Injury Prevention & Return to Play — available on Amazon

Save • Share • Join the debate

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇫🇯🐉🏉From the Dragons treatment room in 2014 to catching up again 12 years later! Great to have former Fiji intern...
03/10/2026

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇫🇯🐉🏉From the Dragons treatment room in 2014 to catching up again 12 years later!

Great to have former Fiji international Netani Talei in to see me today — and fantastic to catch up after all these years

I worked with Netani during my time as a physio at the Newport Gwent Dragons back in 2014

What a playing career he has had 💪🏉

🇫🇯 33 Test caps for Fiji
🏆 3 Rugby World Cups — 2007, 2011 & 2015
🐉 Newport Gwent Dragons
🏴 Edinburgh Rugby
⚔️ Worcester Warriors
🏉 Harlequins
🇫🇯 Part of the Fiji squad that famously beat Wales at the 2007 Rugby World Cup

One of those great things about working in professional rugby — players move on, careers finish, years pass, but you still get the chance to reconnect🫶

Really good to see you again, Netani

Vinaka vakalevu!

🇫🇯🤝🏉

⚽ THROWBACK THURSDAY — when I was a 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿Champions League football physio…Long before most people knew me for rugby ph...
01/10/2026

⚽ THROWBACK THURSDAY — when I was a 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿Champions League football physio…

Long before most people knew me for rugby physio work, I spent a small part of my career working in professional football

Back in 2001 me and my Unie mate Tim were physios with Barry Town during one of the most memorable European runs in Welsh club football🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

🏆 We beat FC Shamkir 3–0 on aggregate in the Champions League qualifying round — making Welsh football history

Then came FC Porto

🇵🇹 Away in Portugal: Porto 8–0 Barry Town.
Yes… 8–0😬

Seven days later, back at Jenner Park:

🏴 Barry Town 3–1 FC Porto

From an 8–0 defeat to actually beating Porto a week later. One of those bizarre and brilliant experiences in professional sport that I’ve never forgotten

My career eventually took me much deeper into professional rugby, but my experience working in football were an important part of developing me as a sports physio — and gave me experiences I’ll always remember

25 years later, I’m still working in sports physiotherapy and still learning✅

Have a great Thursday 🙌

Best wishes

Chris
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

1000th Post 🥳🎉😅 Thank you 🙏 🏉Concussion rehabilitation has changed🧠🏉The old approach of simply resting and waiting for s...
30/09/2026

1000th Post 🥳🎉😅 Thank you 🙏

🏉Concussion rehabilitation has changed🧠🏉

The old approach of simply resting and waiting for symptoms to disappear has moved on‼️

Modern concussion rehab is active, individualised and progressive✅

Depending on the player, clinical problems, ( Clinical Domains/ Subtypes) rehabilitation may need to target/ address:

🫀 Exercise tolerance
🦴 Cervical function ( Neck)
⚖️ Vestibular function ( Balance)
👁️ Visual/oculomotor function (Eyes)
🧠 Cognitive load ( Thinking)
😴 Sleep 🛌
💭 Psychological recovery ( Variable)

Then we need to bring those systems together and rebuild the demands of rugby:

Run → scan → track → think → react → perform✅

Contact comes later, when appropriate and within the relevant medical and graduated return-to-play pathway🏉🤝

🔖 SAVE this carousel as a concussion rehab reference✅

📤 SHARE it widely with players, coaches, parents, physios, medics and everyone involved in rugby👍

📕 And if you want to develop your knowledge across all rugby injuries, my book Rugby Injury Prevention & Return to Play provides practical guidance from injury through rehabilitation and back to performance💪🏉

Available on Amazon link in my bio 👍

Thank you for helping me reach a 1000 posts - your messages and support and interactions are very motivating and I am grateful to you all 🙌

Best wishes

Chris
Chris Jenkins | Rugby Injury Sports Physiotherapist

Address

Caerphilly

Opening Hours

Monday 7am - 8pm
Tuesday 7am - 8pm
Wednesday 7am - 8pm
Thursday 7am - 8pm
Friday 7am - 8pm
Saturday 8am - 4pm
Sunday 8am - 4pm

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Welshrugbyphysio posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Welshrugbyphysio:

Shortcuts

Share