Concussion a serious issue, ABs tell students
All Blacks midfielder David Havili drew on his own experience when he urged young sportspeople to ‘‘listen to your bodies’’ and treat concussion seriously ‘‘because you’ve only got one brain’’.
Havili and fellow All Blacks Jack Goodhue and Quinn Tupaea spoke to around 25 Māori and Pasifika school students at Aotea College in Porirua on the eve of the third Ireland test last week.
The session was arranged by ACC, which, in conjunction with NZ Rugby, runs a RugbySmart programme aimed at educating young players about the importance of concussion recovery.
ACC said the three All Blacks shared their own experience, the importance of rest and recovery following a concussion, and the need to look after your mates.
Havili, who has played 15 tests, told the students he had suffered a few concussions during his rugby career – some mild and others much worse.
He wanted up-and-coming rugby players to know they need to recover properly.
‘‘Sessions like this are extremely important,’’ the 27-year-old Crusader said.
‘‘Speaking from experience and having a few concussions myself, it really does affect your playing career. It’s making sure that your friends and everyone else is OK that is playing the sport.
‘‘You need to make sure you get the rest and recovery time that you need to keep playing the sport you love.’’
Havili said all of his concussions had been different.
‘‘I’ve definitely had a lot of neck pain myself a few times through concussion. So, it was easy enough for me to identify. It could be blurred vision, vomiting sometimes and headaches.
‘‘It’s looking at how are you feeling and making sure you rest and recover properly.’’
According to the ACC, NZR is focused on improving player welfare outcomes for Pasifika and Mā ori rugby players, particularly teenagers (13-19 years). Research showed Mā ori and Pasifika players had higher rates of concussion and lower rates of reporting.
ACC injury prevention partner Nat Hardaker said it was ‘‘perfect’’ to have All Blacks talking about the importance of recognising concussion.
‘‘It’s amazing what a difference it makes,’’ she said. ‘‘Having people like All Blacks as ambassadors and influencers talking to young players, they take much more notice of them than they do of us.’’
Danielle Salmon, a NZR research scientist specialising in concussion recovery, said that NZR recommended stand down periods after a concussion should be 23 days for players aged 19 and under and 21 days for over19s.
‘‘What we find, particularly with the high school age players, those under 19, the brain is still developing,’’ said. ‘‘So we want to make sure that before they come back to play, they’re fully recovered.’’
Salmon said it was crucial players rest fully in the first 48 hours following a concussion.
‘‘We have to think about how we get back to activity and it’s so important to rest for 48 hours.
‘‘You want to really look at avoiding screens, any kind of mental exercise, physical exercise. You need to think about letting the brain recover.’’
After two days, players can start to introduce light to moderate exercise.
‘‘So you can go for a walk, jog and again, you can still have symptoms and do that. But we want to just make sure that they don’t get any worse after you’ve done that activity.’’
The next steps were increasing the heart rate and seeing how the body responded. Then they could begin non-contact training, things like catching and passing and training with the team.
Salmon said players needed to focus on gradually reintroducing themselves to playing sport.
‘‘So you’re back to school, back to work and you want to try and do that gradually. So starting with work or school at home, then going back to maybe half days, seeing how you feel with that. You need to monitor that it doesn’t make it any worse and impact your recovery.’’