TY - JOUR PY - 2021// TI - Injuries in Irish male and female collegiate athletes JO - Physical therapy in sport A1 - Teahan, Calvin A1 - O'Connor, Siobhán A1 - Whyte, Enda F. SP - 1 EP - 7 VL - 51 IS - N2 - OBJECTIVE: To understand the incidence and burden of injury of student-athletes in four of the most popular collegiate sports.

DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Collegiate sport. PARTICIPANTS: Gaelic football, hurling/Camogie, soccer and Rugby (n = 672; male = 416, female = 256) student-athletes. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Injury incidence, burden of injury and total, match and training injury rates, and their 95% confidence intervals were calculated. The frequencies and proportions were also calculated. An injury was defined as any physical condition that prevents a student-athlete from full participation for a period greater than 24 h.

RESULTS: Over a quarter (0.266) of student-athletes sustained an injury in the academic season. Male student-athletes had a higher injury rate than females (21.6 vs 11.3 injuries/1000 h). Rugby (20.8 injuries/1000 h) had the highest injury rates with hurling/Camogie (6.3 injuries/1000 h) the lowest. Lower extremity injuries were predominant (68.8%) with ankle sprains demonstrating a large burden for all sports (20.6-280.2 days absent/1000 h). Hamstring strains (13.7-118.4 days absent/1000 h) had a large burden for all sports except male Rugby. Knee sprains had a large burden on the female Gaelic footballer (84.8 days absent/1000 h). Sprinting (27.4%) and the tackle (20.1%) were the most common mechanism of injury. Injuries were predominantly moderate (8-28 days) or severe (>28 days) (84.7%).

CONCLUSION: Injury reduction needs to be prioritised in the student-athlete, particularly in males. Specific focus is required on the lower extremity, especially in the hamstring muscles and ankle joint owing to the large burden of injury. Keywords: Gaelic football

Language: en

LA - en SN - 1466-853X UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ptsp.2021.06.001 ID - ref1 ER -