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Injury epidemiology and surveillance practices in elite adult ladies Gaelic football and camogie
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Date
2025-12
Abstract
Ladies Gaelic football (LGF) and camogie are high intensity, contact, field-based team sports, indigenous to Ireland. At the elite level the high physical and technical demands inevitably involve a risk of injury, while the level of commitment to training and match preparation approaches professional standards. Elite level players are supported by a dedicated and specialist team of professionals, the athlete support personnel (ASP).
Aim: To investigate injury epidemiology and reporting practices in elite adult ladies Gaelic games.
Methods: A systematic research strategy was undertaken, comprising; 1) A critical review of existing literature investigating injury epidemiology and surveillance practices in elite adult female field-based team sports, 2) An investigation of perspectives of elite LGF and camogie players on injury surveillance and barriers and facilitators to injury reporting, 3) An investigation of perspectives of elite LGF and camogie players on injury, and 4) An investigation of perspectives of ASP on the injury reporting in elite LGF and camogie.
Results: There was wide variation in definitions and methods used in injury surveillance across the twenty previously published epidemiological studies. While the reported injury incidences, particularly in the football related sport codes, were comparable to elite camogie and collegiate ladies Gaelic football, there was a marked paucity of injury epidemiological and surveillance data in elite ladies Gaelic games. Therefore, further research in elite ladies Gaelic games was conducted. Injury surveillance was considered the reporting of injury to health care professionals and broader team personnel. Injury reporting was influenced by factors related to the player, the organisation and the environment. Furthermore, injury was described by elite ladies Gaelic games players in terms of its physical and psychological impacts while the economic costs and the time dedicated to the short- and long-term management of injury, were components of the injury experience. There was broad consensus among ASP that elite LGF and camogie players do not report all injuries. This underreporting was attributed to a combination of personal, system-level, and environmental factors.
Conclusion: These findings add to the existing literature on injury and injury surveillance in ladies Gaelic games. Ultimately, this thesis serves to inform measures and specific recommendations for diverse audiences (players, ASP, researchers, and national governing bodies), with a view to supporting player welfare and injury prevention.
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University of Limerick
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Gilhooly_2025_Injury.pdf
Adobe PDF, 3.32 MB
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Sustainable Development Goals
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Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International