title: Incidence of injury in Gaelic football: a 4-year prospective study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Gaelic football is a national sport of Ireland. While predominantly played in Ireland, it is recognized in North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Australasia. Its high-velocity, multidirectional, and high physical contact elements expose players to a risk of injury. To date, prospective injury data for Gaelic football has been of short duration.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe the incidence and nature of sport-related injuries in elite male Gaelic football players over 4 consecutive seasons.
  
  
  METHODS
  Descriptive epidemiology study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Over the period 2007 to 2010, a total of 851 Gaelic football players were tracked. Players were members of county-level teams who volunteered to be included in the study. Team injury, training, and match play data were submitted by the team physiotherapist on a weekly basis through a dedicated web portal to the National Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) injury database. Injury was defined using a time loss criterion, in accordance with consensus statements in sports applicable to Gaelic games.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 1014 Gaelic football injuries were recorded. Incidence of injury was 4.05 per 1000 hours of football training. Match-play injury rates were 61.86 per 1000 hours. Muscle was the most frequently injured tissue (42.6%) and fractures accounted for 4.4% of Gaelic football injuries. Lower extremity injuries predominated (76.0%). Hamstring injuries were the single most common injury overall, representing almost one quarter (24%) of all injuries and over half of muscle injuries. Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries accounted for 13% of knee injuries. The majority of injuries were defined as new injuries (74.7%), with recurrent injuries constituting 23% of all injuries. The majority (59%) of match play injuries occurred in the second half of the match. Eighty six percent of injuries caused over one week's absence from play.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings illustrate injury patterns in Gaelic football using a prospective methodology, over 4 consecutive seasons. Comparison with published literature suggests that Gaelic football match play injury risk is greater than soccer but less than rugby union.
authors.affiliation: Gaelic Athletic Association, Medical Scientific and Player Welfare Committee, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Edwenia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: O'Malley
authors.forename: Conor
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gissane
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Blake
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005538:Football / Q000293:injuries* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007494:Ireland / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D055815:Young Adult