Chronic back, knee & hip problems

[Jinxy]

Just reading about Conor Gillespie this morning and it looks like he'll have to jack in football altogether.
Very disappointing for him and it's an awful pity we didn't get to see him build on his potential.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/meath-star-gillespie-set-to-call-it-a-day-as-injury-persists-35234607.html

In the last 10 years, we seem to have had a disproportionate amount of serious, chronic injuries to some of our best players.
And by 'serious', I don't mean hamstrings etc. I mean stuff that will actually affect your quality of life when you've stopped playing football altogether.
Kevin Reilly had loads of back & hip trouble, as did Shane O'Rourke.
We'll probably never see Shane in a county jersey again either.
Are taller players more susceptible to this type of thing or is the training load (and quality) a factor?
Or is it just bad luck?
We've also had a fair few cruciates in that time as well.

[Lar Naparka]

Just reading about Conor Gillespie this morning and it looks like he'll have to jack in football altogether.
Very disappointing for him and it's an awful pity we didn't get to see him build on his potential.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/meath-star-gillespie-set-to-call-it-a-day-as-injury-persists-35234607.html

In the last 10 years, we seem to have had a disproportionate amount of serious, chronic injuries to some of our best players.
And by 'serious', I don't mean hamstrings etc. I mean stuff that will actually affect your quality of life when you've stopped playing football altogether.
Kevin Reilly had loads of back & hip trouble, as did Shane O'Rourke.
We'll probably never see Shane in a county jersey again either.
Are taller players more susceptible to this type of thing or is the training load (and quality) a factor?
Or is it just bad luck?
We've also had a fair few cruciates in that time as well.

You may recall that your namesake went public some years ago about the lack of support he got to help him defray his medical bills. I think he had both the Meath County Board and the club he played for in Westmeath in his sights when he complained that his injuries left him practically immobile at times  and that all his problems stemmed from knocks he received while playing and training for club and county.
There isn't a county in the land that doesn't have its Bernard Flynns and the rank and file as well as the powers that be don't appear to give a damn about the win at all costs ethos far outweigh the probable dangers to the players.

[seafoid]

Joe Brolly: Gooch and fellow players counting the cost of inter-county demolition derby
http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/joe-brolly-gooch-and-fellow-players-counting-the-cost-of-intercounty-demolition-derby-34282341.html

The patient is anaesthetised. The surgeon takes his scalpel and opens a 10 or 12-inch cut through the knee, peeling back the flesh to expose the bones. Now for the joinery work. Using a saw, he removes the top of the shin bone. Then, he saws off the bottom of the thigh bone. Sometimes, he will have to remove the knee cap as well. Now, he takes a hammer and uses it to hammer a plastic cap over the top of the shin, before screwing a metal cap onto the bottom of the thigh. He cannot use metal for both jobs as metal on metal will heat up. Plastic on plastic, meanwhile, causes friction at the join. The knee is sewn up and the patient awakes to begin a laborious and painful recovery. First on a zimmer frame. Then a walking stick. Recovery takes around 12 months.
The patient will be able to walk, but not as freely as before. He will never run or cycle again. But at least he will be able to sleep and work.
At the Ulster GAA coaching conference in 2014, the medical team from the Elite Athletes Institute based at University of Ulster Jordanstown (Sports Institute Northern Ireland) gave a presentation on chronic injuries in Gaelic football. The opening graphic in their powerpoint presentation was an iceberg, with a ship sailing straight at it. The iceberg represented chronic injury: knee, hip, groin, back. The ship was county football.
Anterior Cruciate Ligament tears have reached epidemic proportions. This injury almost guarantees osteoarthritis. Up to 80 per cent of sufferers will have that arthritis within ten years. Gooch chronic pain, inflammation at the knee joint and stiffness. It affects sleep, work and mental health, and in the end the pain, as Martin Loughran, elite physio at SINI, puts it, "drives the patient out of his mind." The only cure is the surgeon's saw and hammer.
Back injuries are thriving too. Within the last six months, four of the current Kerry team have either had back surgery or are about to have it. The surgery is performed by a neurosurgeon. Spinal surgery is a rather delicate affair. Hip surgery is rampant as well. Overtraining wears away the cartilage around the hip socket. Bone begins grinding on bone. Then, it is onto the surgeon's slab. With arthritis waiting impatiently, like the grim reaper. In the end, a total hip replacement is the only cure. Where's that saw, nurse?
It was revealed last week that Colm Cooper has seriously injured himself again, which seems to spell a miserable end to a career that started with such brilliance. Thank God he began his county career at a time when real football was still being played. For the last five years, our Nobel laureate of skill has had negligible impact on the big stage, either toiling against blanket defences or limping through Killarney on crutches. In the final just past, he spent most of his time in his own half, tracking Dublin's counter-attacking corner-back. The fact that the corner-back scored and Gooch didn't tells you all you need to know about modern county football.
It is fascinating to see how Gooch's physique has transformed in the past decade. At first, a lithe, supremely supple footballer, running riot in his first final against Mayo. In the end, a muscled, tight, gymnastic physique. Darragh ó Sé described this metamorphosis brilliantly a few years back with the classic line: "You used to see Gooch swigging a bottle of Coca-Cola and eating a bag of crisps. Now, he walks down the main street in Killarney sipping spring water and eating a banana."
In the period between September and May 2013, over half of the Kildare senior squad (16 players) went under the knife. At the time, manager Jason Ryan said: "Surgery for senior inter-county players is now just a part of life." So, when it was revealed last week that nine Kerry players have undergone surgery in the past six months or are on the waiting list to have it, it was no surprise, since the lot of a county footballer serving too many masters is overtraining, intensive sessions and insufficient rest. Kieran O'Leary joins the depressing list of county footballers who have had major surgery on the cruciate ligament.
Paul Geaney (back surgery), Shane Enright (back surgery), Anthony Maher (hip surgery), Mikey Geaney (back surgery), Johnny Buckley (knee surgery), Peter Crowley (shoulder surgery), James O'Donoghue (shoulder surgery, for the second time), Gooch (shoulder surgery). It is a pattern now familiar in every county.
For almost a decade, physios, surgeons and radiologists have been warning us that Gaelic football has become a demolition derby. Until now, those warnings have been ignored as the arms race intensifies. Never mind that it is an arms race that is self-defeating, with county boards throwing good money after bad to get absolutely nowhere. Meanwhile, it is the lads who suffer. And when they're unable to walk or sleep without pain, getting steroid injections, taking their arthritis medication and ibuprofen, having their hips and knees replaced in their 40s, who will give a damn then? And who will pay?
The problem is aggravated by the fact that in the last decade, it has become virtually impossible for a county footballer to build a meaningful career or start a family while he is playing. Which means that the full impact of these injuries will only be felt at a time when he is starting to make his way in the real world.

[seafoid]

You would wonder if all the effort is worth it.

I remember reading the Gaelsport annual from 1980. There was one story about a hurler who won the county final by blocking the sliotar and losing his teeth. The glory of the parish  . Would you risk it for a future of sucking biscuits?

Rugby is similar BTW.  If BOD or Sexton  get Alzheimers in their 50s will it be fair to their kids?

[Jinxy]

The overuse of pain-killing medication is another issue that has to be addressed.
I remember Bernard Flynn talking about all the injections he had back in the day, just to get him on the field.
God knows what it's like now.
If you're very lucky, you'll have a decade as an inter-county footballer.
4-5 decades of chronic pain thereafter seems like a very high price to pay.
Now I realise that won't be the case for a lot of players, but if lads are breaking down in their early twenties with chronic back/hip/knee problems, someone should take them to one side and tell them they need to seriously consider how this will affect their future health.
They might not want to hear it, but it should be said nonetheless.

[Hereiam]

Does the training need to be changed to prevent these sort of injuries from happening.

[theskull1]

My wife never played intercounty football, and shes got chronic hip pain. Just saying ..... you don't need to be a county player to get these aliments as you get on a bit. 

[ballinaman]

Multi factorial in my opinion.

S&C programs being dished out by people who don't hold either UKSCA or CSCS qualifications.

No continuity between medical teams that a player is involved with, no medical history.

Adult training methods being used to train adolescents...ie, pressure cooker/small sided games put massive pressure on the groin and pelvis during skeletal maturation.

Guys like Carton down in Waterford who operates on anything he gets his hands on, surgery should be the absolute last resort.

I know big steps have been taken in some counties over the last few years to address the above, I know 4 for a fact off top of my head who have correct structures in place.

[Bod Mor]

Weighted squats and lunges in addition to the rigors of high intensity aerobic exercise (sprints, training drills etc.) don't go well together. I have seen doing these in isolation to each other isn't too bad but combined can be dangerous.

I was a bit shocked to hear my cousin who is 15\16 i doing the above type of training with his club. In my opinion, this is setting these lads up for failure by the time they reach their late 20s. It is not sustainable.

[illdecide]

My wife never played intercounty football, and shes got chronic hip pain. Just saying ..... you don't need to be a county player to get these aliments as you get on a bit.

U well hung?

[Gael85]

Just reading about Conor Gillespie this morning and it looks like he'll have to jack in football altogether.
Very disappointing for him and it's an awful pity we didn't get to see him build on his potential.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/meath-star-gillespie-set-to-call-it-a-day-as-injury-persists-35234607.html

In the last 10 years, we seem to have had a disproportionate amount of serious, chronic injuries to some of our best players.
And by 'serious', I don't mean hamstrings etc. I mean stuff that will actually affect your quality of life when you've stopped playing football altogether.
Kevin Reilly had loads of back & hip trouble, as did Shane O'Rourke.
We'll probably never see Shane in a county jersey again either.
Are taller players more susceptible to this type of thing or is the training load (and quality) a factor?
Or is it just bad luck?
We've also had a fair few cruciates in that time as well.

It a travesty Shane O'Rourke never fulfilled his potential in a Meath jersey Was a good as if not better than Michael Murphy. Comfortable at midfield, centre & full forward and a natural footballer. Michael Meehan was another potential great lost to chronic injuries. Was playing intercounty u21 while still minor

[Gael85]

Does the training need to be changed to prevent these sort of injuries from happening.

GAA talk a good game about player burnout yet schedule u21 football, Sigerson Cup around the same time as league. It needs good communication between various managers on individual player schedules. I would put a rule u21 players cant play league until they are knocked out of u21 championship. Playing 3 games in a week in middle of February/March on heavy pitches is not good for the body.

[Main Street]

My wife never played intercounty football, and shes got chronic hip pain. Just saying ..... you don't need to be a county player to get these aliments as you get on a bit.

Much damage is cause in the  use and overuse of medication to allow a player to play, as Jinxy alluded to. If your wife was an intercounty player , had problems and then took pain killers/ steroids/anti inflamms in order to play, then the natural healing process gets disturbed and afterwards the effects kick in.