Epidemiology of Injury in Gaelic Handball.

The initial step in developing injury prevention strategies is to establish the epidemiology of injury. However there has been no published research on injury in Gaelic handball. This study describes the epidemiology of injury in 75 Gaelic handball players utilising a retrospective questionnaire. 88% of participants reported one or more injuries. Injuries to the upper limb were prevalent (52.9%), followed by the lower limb (30.3%). The shoulder (17.6%), finger (10.5%) and ankle (9.8%) were the primary sites of injury. Injuries occurred most frequently in December (9.7%), January (9.7%), February (9.7%) and November (8.7%). Injuries predominantly occurred during games (82.4%). Injuries were primarily severe (54.7%), with 14.6% of participants admitted to hospital due to injury. Given that this is the only study on Gaelic handball to date, prospective epidemiological studies and further research on injury prevention strategies are necessary.