Fear-Avoidance Following Musculoskeletal Injury in Male Adolescent Gaelic Footballers

Context:Gaelic football participation provides a wealth of benefits but a risk of musculoskeletal injury also exists. Injury is associated with physical consequences, including pain, discomfort, loss of function, time absent from school/sport, considerable medical expenses along with placing undue pressure on emergency services and hospital staff. Concurrent psychological consequences, such as fear-avoidance, can also occur causing psychological distress. There is a current dearth of available research examining the psychology of injury in male adolescent Gaelic footballers.Objective:To examine fear-avoidance post-injury in male adolescent Gaelic footballers, the effect of pain, time-loss, injury severity and previous injury on the extent of fear-avoidance and the usefulness of a modified Athlete Fear Avoidance Questionnaire (mAFAQ) as a screening tool for predicting injury.Design:Prospective cohort study.Setting:Recreational clubs.Participants:97 male adolescent club Gaelic footballers (13.4±1.1 years).I...