Siobhan O'Connor

What if I told you that drinking chocolate could actually be good for you? And not just in a buzzy trend way, but one that boosts your skin, energy and sleep, too?

Is bloating a problem? It's time to try chia seed water. Dubbed the "internal shower" on TikTok, it promises de-bloating properties. One editor tries it.

Galway was positively humming with festive cheer when we took two days to explore Christmas out west.

According to research, we don't become fully-fledged adults until 32. So when did you first feel like a grown-up? We ask 8 women.

When Vicky Pigott, a solicitor from Dublin, noticed a small, round, bald patch on her scalp during college, she didn’t think much of it.

Analysis: Many Gaelic football and camogie players accept pelvic floor symptoms as normal instead of seeking out the professional help they need

LIKE millions of women, I’m a sucker for a new beauty product and love hearing about new lotions and potions that promise to turn back the clock a few years. But during a routine search for viral s…

HealthTech accelerators are increasingly prominent initiatives for supporting the growth of early-stage innovations in MedTech, Digital Health and BioTech. These targeted 3–12 month programmes guide projects through regulatory, commercial, design and funding challenges to bring innovations to market. Despite the expansion of HealthTech accelerators over the past 10 years, their study is limited compared with accelerators in other fields, such as FinTech or EdTech.Involving the active collaboration of end users and wider stakeholders throughout the design process, co-design has been shown to improve HealthTech equity, safety, feasibility and likelihood of adoption. However, HealthTech accelerators rarely provide training and support for projects to use co-design frameworks, methods and mindsets. We argue that embedding more co-design practices into HealthTech accelerators is needed to ensure innovations are equitable and more likely to meet genuine user needs on a sustainable basis. Furthermore, such practices have the potential to speak to challenges identified in HealthTech accelerator studies, such as project difficulties with generating evidence for regulatory requirements and navigating tensions in professional identities.We acknowledge the logistical challenges of introducing co-design into fast-paced accelerator environments, including varying cohort maturity and skill sets. Drawing on emerging insights from the King’s MedTech Accelerator, we advocate, first, for a tailored approach to co-design training and support and, second, for further research to explore the value of co-design in maximising the impact of HealthTech innovations.

Purpose Gaelic games (GG) are multidirectional, evasive sports with unpredictable high-intensity activity. Lower extremity injuries are common. Injury prevention exercise programmes (IPEPs) have been introduced, effectively reducing injuries and increasing neuromuscular performance. However, the awareness and use of IPEPs are anecdotally low among coaches. Methods Adult GG coaches (n = 342) completed an anonymous online survey, including awareness, use, and attitudes towards IPEPs and injury prevention. Frequencies and descriptive statistics were conducted, a chi-squared test was used to assess any differences in awareness and use of IPEPs, a Mann-Whitney U test was used to examine differences between groups for attitudes to injury prevention. Results Overall, 59.5% (n = 165) of coaches reported using any form of an IPEPs, including modified or self-developed programmes, while 44.1% of coaches (n = 130) were aware of formal IPEPs. Use was statistically higher in elite coaches than non-elite (p < 0.01, phi = 0.16). No significant differences in IPEP use were observed by coach gender, team gender, or coaching education. Many coaches developed their own IPEP or altered a current IPEP, particularly participants coaching females. Coaches had a positive attitude towards injury prevention, but 40.6% stated a lack of knowledge on how to use an IPEP, with 34.5% agreeing there was no training available to teach them. Discussion Despite generally positive attitudes towards injury prevention, awareness and implementation of formal IPEPs among GG coaches remain limited. These findings highlight the need for targeted coach education and improved dissemination strategies to enhance the adoption and effective implementation of IPEPs in GG, which is critical to mitigating the risk of injury.

SLATHERING on the factor 50 every morning makes me feel virtuous, but the truth is, I have no idea whether it’s actually doing its job. It is supposed to protect against everything from premature a…