Dr Martin McIntyre is the founder and clinical lead at the Sports Injuries & Sports Medicine (SISM) Clinic in Castlebar Co Mayo, a centre that has become a hub for both elite athlete care and applied sports medicine research in Ireland. With a background in sports medicine and performance science, Martin has spent years working across high-performance environments in Gaelic games, rugby, and professional team sport, developing a particular focus on hamstring injury, recurrence, and return-to-play decision-making.

Out of that work came the development of the Hamstring Risk and Injury Gauge, or HRIG – a hamstring-specific assessment and rehabilitation system designed to measure and train hamstring function in positions that closely reflect sprinting and real injury mechanisms. HRIG is now being used across elite football, rugby, athletics, and high-performance settings worldwide, supporting injury risk screening, readiness-to-train monitoring, and evidence-informed return-to-play.

Topics covered:

– Research underpinning HRIG

– How isometric hamstring testing is changing the way we think about injury risk, rehabilitation, and performance.

– How HRIG fits into the world of elite sport

Dr Nicky Keay is an exercise endocrinologist, author, researcher and dancer. Dr Keay is passionate about taking a personalised approach to hormone health with a view to optimising performance and recovery. She has a particular interest in relative energy deficiency in sport, or REDs, and is an Honorary Clinical Lecturer at University College London, as well as advisor to Scottish Ballet.

Dr. Kevin Cronin is a sonographer and lecturer at University College Dublin, where he leads the MSc Ultrasound programme. In 2023, he completed his PhD at UCD, which focused on using ultrasound to assess hamstring injuries in professional rugby players with Leinster Rugby. Kevin has published widely on hamstring injury and ultrasound in leading journals, exploring topics such as hamstring muscle architecture, the reliability of ultrasound imaging techniques, and novel approaches such as semi-automated image analysis. He has worked with elite athletes across rugby, Gaelic games, athletics, and professional football. He is co-director of a private ultrasound clinic based in Limerick city, Ireland called Insight Ultrasound.

Tay Albayrak is a UK Sports Institute Physio Leading the medical services for the World Class Slalom & Kayak Cross Program. Within this role he was part of Team GB at the Paris Olympics 2024. He also consults for the FA Senior Men’s Pathway. Prior to this he spent 3 years with Leeds United as Head of Academy Physiotherapy and 7 years at Tottenham Hotspur FC Academy. His elite sports physio career has been underpinned by 7 years in the NHS through various specialties and a degree in Sports & Exercise Science.

Des is Director of Sport and Physical Wellbeing at the University of Galway in Ireland, where he leads the strategic development and management of the university’s sports programs and facilities. Prior to joining the University, he spent nine years as Head of Sports Medicine and Sports Development at the Arsenal Football Club Academy. Prior to that, he was Head of Strength and Conditioning at Connacht Rugby and Fitness Education Manager at the Irish Rugby Football Union. Des also worked as a consultant for World Rugby, Brentford FC Academy, and the National Cricket Academy in India.

Dr Konrad Kozlowski is a recent graduate of the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami. He is also an athlete himself; he’s played tennis competitively since 5 years old and has competed in the NCAA Championships. He has a keen interest in sports medicine and was the lead author of the paper we will be discussing today on facial fractures in professional footballers.

Peter Rosston is a PhD candidate in medicinal chemistry at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. His interests include clinical medicine and its intersection with sport. He is an avid fan and follower of football and played it in high school. He is the second author of the paper we will be discussing.

Dr Dan Fitzpatrick is a registrar in Sports and Exercise Medicine in the London Deanery and is based at the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health. He has worked in elite football, rugby and marathon running. He has a particular interest in heat illness.

Dr Richard Porter currently works as a Specialty Doctor in Rheumatology and Acute Medicine within the Manchester Foundation Trust. 

Outside of his NHS work, he is a Sports Medicine Doctor for Return2Play and an Independent Match Day Doctor with Premier League Rugby. 

He also has roles with the England Para-football and Deaf Men’s Squads and is part of the examination panel for the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine.  

Richard recently authored a pivotal piece in the Football Medicine and Performance Association Magazine, shedding light on a topic that has flown under the radar for far too long: the prescribing trends and practices within elite football. In this episode, we’ll explore what the findings mean for footballers, medical teams, and the future of medication governance in elite sport.

• Originally from Cape Town, South Africa, Dr Saul Konviser is a General Dentist with a special interest in Sports Dentistry based in London, working to promote oral health amongst the sporting community, having worked with a broad range of elite athletes across football, boxing, rugby and athletics.

• He has a master’s degree in International Health Policy from the London School of Economics and also a BSc in Physiology and Pharmacology from the University of the West of England, Bristol.

• Saul is no stranger to the podcast series, featuring back in 2022 when we explored the growing field of sports dentistry and the implications for oral health care on training and performance.

Interviewed by Dr Daire Rooney

Dave Fevre is a physiotherapist who has worked at the top level of English Football for the last three decades, notably with Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers, Burnley, Chelsea and Leicester. David has been at the forefront of sports injury rehabilitation, performance optimisation, and return-to-play protocols at the highest level.

More recently, he is working as a freelance clinician and lecturer in physiotherapy and sports injury rehabilitation.

He has consultancy roles with several European, Premiership, WSL, Championship and EFL football clubs and is on the teaching faculty for both the Football Association (FA) and Rugby Football League (RFL).