Arthur Dunne

Waterford Institute of Technology | WIT · Department of Health Sport & Exercise Science

Weight-category athletes (e.g. boxers, wrestlers, jockeys etc.) who engage in weight-making practices to compete are at risk of encountering negative physiological and psychological consequences. There is evidence to support safer weight-making strategies for these athletes; however, there appears to be poor adherence to these evidence-based method...

Jockeys are unlike other weight-making athletes as the sport of horse racing requires strict weight management to meet the racing stipulations, protracted working hours and an extended racing season with limited downtime. Several studies have reported on the body composition and bone status of male and female professional and retired jockeys, yet t...

In elite Gaelic football, body composition is commonly assessed by methods, such as skinfold equations and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) with estimates of body fat used to evaluate and monitor nutrition and training programmes. The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy and variability of the existing skinfold equations in predicting...

Compromised bone density in jockeys has previously been identified as an important health and safety concern in horseracing. Despite this, no update on the bone density status in Irish jockeys has been provided in the past decade. The study aimed to conduct a comprehensive update of the current bone density status in professional Irish jockeys and...

The assessment of body composition in horse racing, a unique weight-restricted sport, provides an important health and performance indicator. The accuracy of skinfold prediction equations at estimating % body fat (% BF) was compared with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) data in a group of professional Irish jockeys (age 27.5 ± 7.7 years). Bod...