A leading GAA physiotherapist has warned that gaelic footballers and hurlers are 'no longer able to train at the level we're training at'.

Outlining the findings of a UCD research group which shows the incidence of hamstring injuries across both codes has increased from 18% (between 2007 and 2013) to 26% in 2014, Tyrone minor football physio Marty Loughran told delegates at the O'Neill's Ulster GAA Coaching and Games Development conference: "Figures will fluctuate from year to year but to go from 18% over six years to 26% in one year is a massive, massive surge.

"We've got good strength and conditioning coaches, we've got good physios, we've got good doctors working with these teams. We should be reducing this rate, not having this massive spike.

"That massive spike is an indication, to me, that we have pushed our players beyond that tipping point and we're no longer able to train at the level we're training at.

"A surge of 8% in hamstring injuries shows that our training volume, our training load is probably too high. You hear these teams that are training twice a day, training every day and then other teams trying to copy that. Well that copycat phenomenon has probably pushed us over the edge."

As reported in today's Examiner, on the issue of the cruciate knee ligament injury, Loughran said: "Whenever you get a cruciate injury, the force that it takes to tear your cruciate causes a really bad bone bruise in your knee.

"That bone bruise means osteoarthritis in later life is unavoidable. So 10 or 15 years down the line, you will get osteoarthritis in your knee.

"That means that down the line, when you're 40 or 50 years of age, when you should be making the most money and rearing a family, you are suffering from chronic knee pain.

"There's a financial burden that comes with that and a decreased quality of life. So these are massive catastrophic injuries that go way beyond being out for 12 months and missing one season of football.

"They have a big, big consequence down the line."

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