A 6-month prospective study of injury in Gaelic football

Abstract

Objective: To describe the injury incidence in Gaelic football. Methods: A total of 83 players from three counties were interviewed monthly about their injury experience, during the 6 months of the playing season. Results: The injury rate was 13.5/1000 h exposure to Gaelic football (95% CI, 10.9 to 16.6). There were nearly twice as many injuries during matches (64.4%, 95% CI, 54.1 to 73.6) as in training (35.6%, 95% CI, 26.4 to 49.5). The ankle was found to be the most commonly injured site (13.3%, 95% CI, 7.8 to 21.9). The musculotendinous unit accounted for nearly 1/3 of all injuries (31.1%). The tackle accounted for 27.8% of the injuries sustained (tackler 10%, 95% CI, 5.4 to 17.9; player being tackled 17.9%, 95% CI, 11.2 to 26.9). Of total match injuries, 56.9% (95% CI, 46.1 to 67.1) were experienced in the second half as opposed to 39.7% (95% CI, 29.8 to 50.5) in the first half. Conclusions: Gaelic footballers are under considerable risk of injury. Greater efforts must be made to reduce this risk so that players miss less time from sport due to injury. Risk factors for injury in Gaelic football must now be investigated so that specific interventions may be established to reduce them.

Epidemiology of injury in male adolescent Gaelic games

“…This trend is also reported in adult Gaelic games 1,5,12 and other adolescent sports 20,21 and is attributed to the higher intensity, physicality and effort in a competitive match. 1,5 Adolescent players had a similar training injury rate as adolescent Gaelic footballers observed by Watson 13 (3.1 per 1000 h). Adolescent Gaelic footballers presented with a higher match injury rate than high school soccer players (7.2 injuries per 1000 h).…”

“…They last up to 60 min for adolescent players and consist of two opposing teams of 15 players (goalkeeper, six defenders, two midfielders and six forwards). 1,2 Gaelic games are played on a rectangular field (length 130-145 m, width 80-90 m) and are multidirectional contact games that necessitate players performing at a high level of intensity and velocity. 3 Gaelic football has been described as a mixture of soccer and rugby and is similar to Australian Rules football.…”

Intrarater Reliability of the Adductor Squeeze Test in Gaelic Games Athletes

“…7 To our knowledge, no authors to date have investigated the intrarater reliability of the adductor squeeze test in asymptomatic Gaelic Games athletes using a In addition to computing ICC values, we also undertook statistical analysis to determine if maximum squeeze values differed among the 3 test positions. On both days, the mean squeeze value was higher at 45°of hip flexion than at 0°and 90°of hip flexion (Table 2).…”

“…Both are collision-contact sports with speed, strength, and agility demands similar to those of Australian rules football, rugby union and rugby league, field hockey, and lacrosse. These games are played at high speed, which, when combined with significant physical contact, acceleration, deceleration, and turning, has been proposed 7 to increase the likelihood of injury during the season. Newell et al 8 demonstrated that 65% of Gaelic football intercounty players were unable to fully participate in training/ games for I to 3 weeks in a typical season as a result of injury.…”

Muscle Imbalance Among Elite Australian Rules Football Players: A Longitudinal Study of Changes in Trunk Muscle Size

“…In many ways, Australian rules football is similar to soccer 4,5 and Gaelic football 5,6 and involves a combination of repetitive, high-intensity activities such as kicking, 7,8 sprinting, and jumping. These activities not only are physically demanding on players but carry a potential bias toward the use of trunk and hip flexor muscles.…”