CORK GAA’S MEDICAL experts believe the increase in hip injuries amongst inter-county players is linked to the how readily available medical scans are.
The Cork footballers are currently operating without Jamie O’Sullivan, Damien Cahalane and Patrick Kelly as the trio are all recovering from hip injuries.
O’Sullivan recently went under the knife while Cahalane had to undergo a double hip operation over the winter. Kelly has had a long-standing hip problem, missing all of last year’s league campaign as he recovered from the operation and then going in for a surgery again at the end of last September.
Manager Brian Cuthbert will not rush the trio back into action and revealed he has looked into the frequency of this type of injury occurring.
“I’ve asked Dr Con (Murphy) and Colin Lane, our team doctor and physio about this. Hip injuries are becoming more prevalent in the GAA, not just in our squad but around the country.
“They’ve told me that it’s a lot to do with diagnostic tools. Nowadays you look at it and it’s a lot easier to get a scan. More things tend to crop up, when you scan players. It’s quite possible that these injuries were there all the time.
Cork’s Damien Cahalane.
Pic: INPHO/Morgan Treacy
“They don’t think it’s to do with over-training or anything. It’s not overuse of the players. But we’re taking our time in bringing them back. I’d imagine Paddy will be back around March. With Damien we’re not sure, it could be March or April.
“Jamie then will be longer as he only got the operation last week. There’s absolutely no pressure on these guys and we’ll be taking our time with bringing them back into action.”
Cork face Kerry in Sunday’s McGrath Cup final and then travel to face Westmeath in their league opener a fortnight later.