Characteristics of potential concussive events in elite male gaelic football players: A descriptive video-analysis

ABSTRACT

Gaelic football (GF) is a high-impact sport and Sport-Related Concussion (SRC) is an issue within the game. Our aim was to evaluate the characteristics of Potential Concussive Events (PCEs) that occur in the Gaelic Athletic Association National Football League and extrapolate this data to reduce the incidence and severity of SRC. PCEs may or may not lead to a clinical diagnosis of SRC, but represent high-risk events and therefore may be a useful indicator. A video-analysis approach was undertaken to identify PCEs throughout two seasons of play using broadcast footage, and characteristics of each PCE were measured based on previously validated methods. A total of 242 PCEs were identified over 111 matches (2.18 per match, 58.14 per 1000 hours of exposure). PCEs were frequently not anticipated by the player (40.5%, n = 98). The most common impact locations were the mandibular region (33.1%, n = 80) and the temporal region (21.1%, n = 51), and the most frequently observed mechanism was hand/fist to head (27.3%, n = 66). A second-hit was observed in 34 PCEs (14.0%). The findings provide initial guidance for the development of player protection strategies to reduce the incidence and severity of SRC in Gaelic Football.

KEYWORDS:

• Sport-Related Concussion
• Gaelic athletic association
• video analysis
• SCAT-5
• concussion management
• return to play

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2021.1896455.

Disclosure statement

We know of no conflicts of interest associated with this publication, and there has been no financial support for this work that could have influenced its outcome.

Data availability

Data available upon reasonable request.