NO ONE participating in sport should return to play the same day following concussion unless cleared by a doctor, a US professor told a meeting in Dublin last night.
Prof Mike Ferrara, director of St Mary’s hospital athletic research laboratory at the University of Georgia, stressed that concussion is a brain injury and should be treated seriously and not be minimised as “just a bump on the head”.
Concussion injuries were increasing over the past 10 years among those playing contact sports such as rugby and football. This was for a variety of reasons including the fact that athletes are getting bigger “so there is more velocity in collisions”. There was also better recognition of the condition among the medical community and better knowledge of it among athletes.
Prof Ferrara, who has published extensively on his research into sports-related concussion, said there is much more to be learned about the long-term effects of concussion but some research, particularly among American football players, suggests repeated concussion can be linked to depression and possibly Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment.
It was important, therefore, that coaches, athletes, parents and administrators in clubs continued to be educated about concussion.
Short-term symptoms include headache, dizziness, feeling in a “fog”, drowsy, difficulty concentrating, sensitivity to light and noise, and sleep disturbances. “They typically clear quickly when treated and managed appropriately, and that is the key to the whole issue – to manage the concussion appropriately,” he said.
“That means removal from participation and rest from activity until all concussion symptoms are gone and at that point you begin a gradual return back to activity.”
Prof Ferrara stressed the importance of being seen by a doctor before returning to play. “If the initial concussion is treated appropriately, typically complications are minimal.
“But for those who return to play too early or with any type of concussion symptoms, their risk of re-injury drastically increases.”
Prof Ferrara was speaking at a meeting on sport concussion at Dublin City University (DCU) last night where he is a Fulbright Scholar teaching and researching in the athletic therapy and training programme.
Prof Tim Lynch, director of the Dublin Neurological Institute at the Mater hospital, said concussion was something that needs to be assessed carefully. Neurologists were now being asked to assess more people who have been concussed, but this may be because there is a greater awareness of the issue. There were no figures for prevalence of concussion related injuries in Ireland, he said.
However, DCU is performing a long-term study evaluating injury trends, biomechanical characteristics and concussion recovery of Gaelic footballers aged 13 to 18 years with the aim of developing injury-prevention programmes. The study is in its first year.