It may not have escaped you, some rugby players, whether professional or amateur present a very specific physical feature: very damaged, deformity ears, which we sometimes compare to cauliflowers. A particular sign that more willingly affects the “forwards”, these players who find themselves in the scrums, head against head.
A deformation linked to friction and blows in the game
Concretely, these “cabbage” are actually injuries. They appear as a result of a shock, when the ear and its cartilage are mistreated, rubbed, twisted during a match. If no player is safe, the damaged ears are above all the prerogative of the forwards because they are the ones who come head of the melee. In case of friction or shock, the ears of these players can bend, and the cartilage, break, under pressure. “” “When it comes to entering, it all depends on if the ears comply or not. If they don’t fold well, cartilage farts and they swell ” Details Ugo Boniface, left pillar of the Union Bordeaux-Bègles (Top 14) on BFMTV.
Othematoma, a hematoma in cartilage
The rugby distorted ear is therefore an “war injury”, inevitable but logical, as explained by Dr Gérald Kierzek, emergency artist and medical director of True Medical.
“” “The ear is cartilage. But this cartilage can simply break under a shock, with the appearance of a hematoma, which is called othematom. But it is also in the repetition of trauma that it becomes impressive. Whenever the cartilage is folded, broken, it heals, giving new deformations. A rugby player will therefore have distorted ears, like a boxer often has a twisted nose. It is the same mechanism ”.
An injury without impact on health, except in the rare cases where hematoma is near the ear canal, “but extremely painful” if we believe rugby players.
An injury… perceived as a pride
Trauma after trauma, the ear is gradually taking a form well to itself, especially since the weekly matches sometimes do not give time to the healing of doing well. In case of large pain, a puncture can possibly relieve hematoma. But the deformation is irremediable, except surgery. “” “The breakage of cartilage is final, but we could reduce the deformation by an intervention ” Specifies Dr. Kierzek who does not believe in it “ But rugby players have more often a certain pride in having these ears “.
An observation that Ugo Boniface does not den :: “”If it bothers me from an aesthetic point of view? Not at all, I see it as recognition of the pillar post. On the field, there are not many players who have cabbage ears. It’s a little pride! “.
Pride and a kind of tradition in rugby. Proof of this is: while wearing a helmet, protections or a bandage would avoid these ears in cauliflower, watch the next games on TV: very few forwards adopt such protections!