Gaelic games players' awareness and use of, and attitudes towards injury prevention exercise programmes
Calvin Teahan, Enda F. Whyte, Siobhán O’Connor
Physical Therapy in Sport
School of Health and Human Performance
Abstract

The aim of this DCU research project was to determine the awareness of and use of injury prevention exercise programmes among adult Gaelic games players and to investigate Gaelic games players' attitudes to injury prevention and barriers and facilitators to successful use of these programmes.

A recruitment email was sent to all clubs and county boards throughout Ireland (whose email was available online) and the survey was advertised on social media platforms. Adult players completed an anonymous survey, including awareness, use, and attitudes towards injury prevention and injuries. Frequencies and descriptive statistics were conducted, a chi-squared test was used to assess any differences in awareness and use of IPEPs, a Mann-Whitney U test was used to examine differences between groups for attitudes to injury prevention (men vs women; elite vs non-elite).

Despite a positive attitude to injury prevention and believing injuries are an issue, adoption remains low. Organisations/clubs should educate players on the benefits of using IPEPs and support structures put in place to gain greater implementation, which is critical to mitigating the risk of injury.