GAA players are more likely to be injured in the final quarter of the game, a new study has found. It has also expressed alarm at the number of lower limb injuries and has called for further investigation into the issue.
The study also found that almost two-thirds of players were unable to partake fully in football activity for oneto three weeks following an injury.
"The high incidence of injury, especially hamstring injuries, in the latter stages of training and games warrants further investigation," said the study, which was conducted by Glasgow University and NUI Galway.
The study found that 47 per cent of all injuries which players suffered occurred in the final quarter of games and training.
It said the relative risk of injury was almost 11 times more likely in games, rather than in training. This is despite the fact that more than eight times the amount of time was spent in training than in games.
"Of the injuries sustained, 59 per cent occurred in games and 41 per cent in training," it said.
For the study, 16 teams agreed to take part. All were male, between 18 and 36 years old and were members of senior inter- county Gaelic football teams.
A total of 471 injuries was recorded. The overall incidence of injury was 11.8 per 1,000 player hours.
"Despite the high intensity and physical contact nature of Gaelic football, there was a significantly higher proportion of non-contact injuries, the study said.
It found that 60 per cent of injuries resulted from non-contact and 40 per cent from contact.
The main non-contact injuries were muscle strain injuries, particularly to the hamstrings (31 per cent) and groin (14 per cent), caused mainly by running, twisting, accelerating and decelerating.
"Contact injuries, particularly the shoulder [ 15 per cent], knee [ 15 per cent] and ankle [ 9 per cent] resulted predominantly from collisions with other players, tackled or struck by another player," said the study which appears in the latest edition of the Irish Medical Journal.
The study also classified the injuries into three categories, according to the length of absence from training sessions and games. 10 per cent of all injuries were classified as minor (off for less than one week); 56 per cent were moderate (off for one to three weeks); and 34 per cent were severe (off for more than three weeks).
"Of the severe injuries, 12 per cent resulted in the player being unable to participate fully for more than six weeks and 3 per cent were serious enough for the player to miss playing for the rest of the season," it said.
The study said there was an urgent need for proper data on the issue and the establishment of a national injury database to help predict, reduce and prevent injury at all levels of the game.
"The high incidence of injury in the final quarter of training activity merits further investigation and analysis," it said.
It added that a detailed study of the underling causes of hamstrings injuries is warranted.