EANNA FALVEY TREATS patients from a vast array of sporting backgrounds in his line of work.
As team doctor of the Irish rugby team and the Irish Amateur Boxing High Performance Unit, the Cork native tends to the injuries and well-being of many of the country’s top athletes.
And with the growth of mixed martial arts (MMA) in recent years, Dr Falvey has also seen a noticeable increase in the number of fighters visiting his clinic.
“I am seeing far more patients who are actively training in the sport,” he told The42 at the MMA injury prevention event at Dublin’s Royal College of Surgeons last week. “You would be amazed at the body types of the people who come in who are training in MMA. They don’t all look like Conor McGregor.
“As a sport that is growing, I have consulted a number of fighters about looking after their weight. Making weight is a big part of MMA, boxing and sports like rowing as well where you not only have to train hard but you have to be extremely conscious of your body weight, which is very tough.”
The success of several Irish fighters in the UFC, MMA’s premier promotion, has catapulted the sport into Ireland’s mainstream media — where it has been met with a mixed reaction.
Falvey believes everyone is entitled to their opinion and adds that it is up the powers that be to ensure that adequate measures are put in place to provide fighters with a safe platform to participate on.
“Should it be banned? That’s not for me to say but people are always going to do these things and it is much better to have these sports supervised in a controlled manner.
“Statistically the most dangerous sport in Ireland is horse riding. Of all the sports in Ireland, the one you’re most likely to die while playing is golf because older men play it… and they get heart attacks.
“So if you want to talk whether something is more or less dangerous, that’s where we are at. There are huge benefits to being involved in sport though. For someone who might have psychological issues, they will gain confidence. Someone with weight difficulties can improve their fitness.
“It’s not everybody’s cup of tea and it’s probably not what you would recommend to someone starting off but if somebody is very much interested in doing his and it’s the difference between them taking part in sport and not you would have to encourage it.
“When you see initiatives like this (the RCSI injury prevention event) when the governing body gets together with people working in the medical field and try to improve it, that has to be applauded. So I think that’s a good thing.”
As a former Irish amateur super heavyweight champion in boxing, Falvey’s experience of contact sports goes beyond his current profession and he can’t but admire those who take part.
“Whether you like combat sport or not, people enjoy it,” he adds. “They want to push themselves to the limit and find out things about themselves.
“Whether it’s striking a free in the last minute of a hurling game or whether it’s being on your own in the last 15 seconds of a bout, you have to look deep inside yourself and you learn an awful lot about yourself in those minutes.
“It’s a very humbling experience at times and that’s what draws people to these kind of sports.”
