Context: Participating in Gaelic football provides a wealth of benefits, but a risk of musculoskeletal injury also exists. Injury is associated with physical consequences, including pain, discomfort, loss of function, time absent from school/sport, and considerable medical expenses, along with placing undue pressure on emergency services and hospital staff. Concurrent psychological consequences, such as fear avoidance, can also occur, causing psychological distress. There is a current dearth of available research examining the psychology of injury in male adolescent Gaelic footballers. Objective: To examine fear avoidance postinjury in male adolescent Gaelic footballers, the effect of pain, time loss, injury severity, and previous injury on the extent of fear avoidance, and the usefulness of a modified Athlete Fear Avoidance Questionnaire (AFAQ) as a screening tool for predicting injury. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: Recreational clubs. Participants: A total of 97 male adolescent club Gaelic footballers (13.4 [1.1] y). Interventions: Musculoskeletal injuries sustained during participation in Gaelic football, defined as any injury sustained during training or competition causing restricted performance or time lost from play, were assessed and recorded weekly by a certified athletic and rehabilitation therapist. Injuries requiring time loss from participation were classed as time-loss injuries. Injury characteristics that included type, nature, location, severity, and pain were recorded. Main Outcome Measures: Injured players completed the AFAQ, a measure of injury-related fear avoidance following injury assessment (AFAQ1). With time-loss injuries, the AFAQ was completed again (AFAQ2) prior to return to play. Modified AFAQ was completed at baseline. Results: Twenty-two injuries were recorded during the season with fear avoidance evident postinjury that significantly decreased before returning to play. Fear avoidance postinjury was higher in those with greater pain but time loss, injury severity, and previous injury did not significantly affect the extent of fear avoidance. Baseline fear avoidance did not predict injury. Conclusions: Psychological rehabilitation is recommended for managing postinjury psychological distress in male adolescent Gaelic footballers.

This study aimed to examine internal loads in male adolescent Gaelic footballers and their association with musculoskeletal injury. Written training diaries were completed by 97 male adolescent Gaelic footballers weekly and injuries, defined as any injury sustained during training or competition causing restricted performance or time lost from play, were assessed by a Certified Athletic Therapist. Daily load was determined for each player (session rating of perceived exertion by session duration) and summed to give weekly load. Univariate and multiple logistic regressions were conducted to determine the association with injury. Twenty-two injuries were recorded with match injuries significantly more common than training injuries. Periodic variations in weekly load and injuries were evident throughout the season. Univariate analysis identified weekly load (OR = 2.75; 95%CI = 1.00-7.59), monotony (OR = 4.17; 95%CI = 1.48-11.72) and absolute change in load (OR = 3.27; 95%CI = 1.15-9.32) greater than the team average were significant injury risk factors. Multiple logistic regression with 2-weekly and 3-weekly cumulative loads, absolute change, monotony, strain, ACWR and age as independent variables identified internal load measures (monotony, strain and absolute change) were associated with injury with high specificity (96.0%) but low sensitivity (25.0%). The findings highlight the need to monitor team and individual loads to avoid sudden week-to-week changes or excessive weekly loads. Open communication between players, parents, coaches and sports medicine clinicians enables effective load monitoring that can reduce injury risk and may subsequently minimise dropout, improve team success and overall sport enjoyment and promote life-long sports participation.

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Purpose Understanding the perceived efficacy and ease of use of technologies will influence initial adoption and sustained utilization. The objectives of this study were to determine the metrics deemed important by runners for monitoring running-related injury (RRI) risk, and identify the facilitators and barriers to their use of injury focused wearable technologies. Methods A qualitative focus group study was undertaken. Nine semi-structured focus groups with male (n = 13) and female (n = 14) recreational runners took place. Focus groups were audio and video recorded, and transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were thematically analysed. A critical friend approach was taken to data coding, and multiple methods of trustworthiness were executed. Results Excessive loading and inadequate recovery were deemed the most important risk factors to monitor for RRI risk. Other important factors included training activities, injury status and history, and running technique. The location and method of attachment of a wearable device, the design of a smartphone application, and receiving useful injury-related information will affect recreational runners’ adoption of injury focused technologies. Conclusions Overtraining, training-related and individual-related risk factors are essential metrics that need to be monitored for RRI risk. RRI apps should include the metrics deemed important by runners, once there is supporting evidence-based research. The difficulty and/or ease of use of a device, and receiving useful feedback will influence the adoption of injury focused running technologies. There is a clear willingness from recreational runners to adopt injury focused wearable technologies whilst running.

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