Coaches’ attitudes to injury and injury prevention: a qualitative study of Irish field hockey coaches

Abstract

Translating injury prevention research into practice has been challenging, which may be due to a poor understanding of the contextual factors influencing the occurrence of injury. Coaches are key figure in sporting environments and hold pivotal roles in preventing injury. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the attitudes of field hockey coaches to injury and injury prevention. Thirteen field hockey coaches from the amateur Irish Hockey League were interviewed. Reflexive thematic analysis led to three general dimensions comprised five higher-order themes, categorised from 16 lower-order themes. Coaches had positive beliefs regarding the benefits of injury prevention over injury management. However, they lacked the necessary knowledge and skills to successfully implement injury prevention strategies with players. Coaches recognised the importance of empowering players to self-manage training loads to promote injury prevention but acknowledged the need to protect younger players from increased loads. Many barriers to injury prevention were not controllable by coaches including fixture congestion and poor structuring of the sport’s domestic calendar. While coaches can play a key role in the implementation of injury prevention strategies, there is also a requirement to examine how system level barriers to injury prevention can be reduced.

Most amateur football teams do not implement essential components of neuromuscular training to prevent anterior cruciate ligament injuries and lateral ankle sprains

“…essential components and frequency). The relatively high proportion of coaches who reported not to know which exercises to use or simply stated lacking time is in accordance with previous studies [ 20 , 27 ]. Furthermore, a vast amount of coaches and players believed that stretching is sufficient to prevent ACL injuries and lateral ankle sprains, although this is not supported by literature [ 13 , 18 ].…”

“There's definitely something wrong but we just don't know what it is”: A qualitative study exploring rowers' understanding of low back pain

“…Coaches are central figures in sporting environments and have pivotal roles in the prevention of injury. 17 The impact of coaches' behaviour and approach on rates of injury in athletes has been demonstrated 18,19 with lower rates of injury among athletes associated with coaches who exhibit a transformational leadership style. 19 Higher injury burden and incidence of severe injury have been found to be associated with low quality of communication between the coach and medical team.…”

Winter breaks: How do they affect injuries in field hockey?

“…Furthermore, the sudden spike in match and training load following a period of rest may have resulted in an increase in the incidence rate of non-contact injuries 19 . This may be particular important given the amateur nature of field hockey in Ireland, due to their lack of infrastructure 20 . Teams may not have the financial resources or staffing expertise to fully benefit from a winter break.…”