The Effect of Bye Weeks on Injury Event Rates in the Canadian Football League

Area of Science:

• Sports Medicine
• Athletic Injury Prevention
• Professional Football Analytics

Background:

• Bye weeks are common in professional sports to allow for player recovery.
• The impact of bye weeks on injury rates in the Canadian Football League (CFL) remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the effect of bye weeks on the injury event rate in the CFL.
• To analyze injury rates in the weeks following bye weeks.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective cohort study of CFL athletes from 2011 to 2018.
• Analysis of game injury incident rate ratios (IRR) in the week following bye weeks.
• Exploratory analysis of combined game and practice injury events.

Main Results:

• Bye weeks showed no significant effect on the game injury event rate (IRR = 0.96).
• Cumulative game injury rates in the 2-3 weeks post-bye also showed no meaningful change.
• A significant increase in combined game and practice injury events was observed following bye weeks (IRR = 1.14).

Conclusions:

• Bye weeks do not appear to reduce the overall injury event rate in the CFL.
• The addition of more bye weeks did not result in injury reduction.
• Increased combined injury rates post-bye may indicate exacerbation of existing conditions rather than true new injuries.