Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Purpose : This study both investigated and compared Gaelic games players’ and practitioners’ perceptions of the importance of postexercise recovery strategies. Methods : Gaelic players (n = 1178 n = 574 female, age 24.6 6.6 y) and practitioners (n = 148 n = 29 female, age 35.9 8.7 y) completed a questionnaire assessing their perceptions of various postexercise recovery strategies (importance ranked out of 5 1 “not important at all” to 5 “extremely important”). Players were further categorized by playing standard into developmental (club/collegiate; n = 869) and national (intercounty; n = 309) levels and by sport: Gaelic football (n = 813), camogie/hurling (n = 342), and Gaelic handball (n = 23). Practitioners were categorized as sport coaches (n = 67), strength and conditioning staff (n = 34), nutrition staff (n = 15), and athletic rehabilitation staff (n = 32). Results : Gaelic players prevalently perceived sleep (76.4%), rehydration (72.5%), postexercise meal (48.4%), stretching (47.6%), active cool-down (25.1%), foam rolling (23.1%), and massage by therapist (22.6%) as “extremely important.” Practitioners prevalently perceived sleep (90.1%), rehydration (83.6%), postexercise meal (76.6%), daytime naps (36.2%), stretching (25.4%), discussion with teammates (24.6%), and getting into nature (19.4%) as “extremely important.” Conclusions : While strategies with well-documented efficacy such as sleep, nutrition, and rehydration were rated as most important, a distinct and possibly problematic disconnect exists between the perceived importance of many strategies and their empirically demonstrated effectiveness. For instance, active cool-downs and stretching were perceived as highly important despite prevailing evidence suggesting that their effects are often small in magnitude. Collectively, work promoting optimal recovery practices and aligning player-practitioner perspectives would be beneficial to maximize time and resource allocation and enhance player buy-in.
Daly et al. (Fri,) studied this question.