Laois GAA Announce UPMC As Official Healthcare Partners

Monday, 6 September 2021 15:43

The partnership will offer a variety of equipment and services to Laois GAA.

Laois GAA has announced UPMC Sports Medicine is to become their Official Healthcare Partner.

The partnership agreement means that UPMC, which offers health services at UPMC Kildare Hospital, the UPMC Sports Medicine Clinic in Waterford, and other facilities across Ireland, will work with Laois GAA to offer inter-county players care and attention in sports injury and preventative care.

“UPMC is recognised globally as a leader in sports medicine, rehabilitation and orthopaedics and is delighted to be working to find innovative ways to support the well-being of Laois GAA players on and off the field,” said John Windle, general manager of UPMC Sports Medicine in Ireland.

Windle continued “UPMC is proud to become the official healthcare partner of Laois GAA. UPMC has a long tradition of caring for athletes at all levels, including the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Penguins in the United States and in Ireland as the official healthcare partner of the GAA and GPA.”

Peter O'Neill, Chairperson, Laois GAA, said: "We are delighted to announce UPMC as our official healthcare partner. It will be a mechanism for our players across all codes to access sports medicine services and will allow us to assist our medical teams in providing healthcare to our players that is in line with international best practice in a range of areas.’’

O'Neill continued, “This partnership with UPMC will be hugely beneficial to our intercounty teams and we look forward to working with UPMC to develop best in class ways to safeguard their health and wellbeing.”

The UPMC Sports Medicine Clinic is the health system’s first international location dedicated to sports medicine and this partnership announced today will offer a wide variety of equipment and services to Laois GAA, including:

AlterG® Antigravity Treadmill™, which allows for pain-free lower extremity rehabilitation by reducing gravitational forces in a fall-safe environment;

Biodex technology, which guides return to play with validated, quantitative outcomes data obtained through computerised measurement of muscle function and output;

Blood flow restriction rehabilitation, which uses a specialised tourniquet system to reduce blood flow to an extremity with the goal of increasing strength using low weight loads to mimic training at high loads;

and Winback and shockwave therapy, two non-invasive, evidence-based treatments that accelerate healing from sports-related injuries.