A ‘concussion crisis’ means that things have to change

COUNTY ACADEMIC PUBLISHES RESEARCH ON SPORTS INJURIES

A COUNTY academic has called for radical change in the concussion crisis in sport in a recently published report.

Dr Dominic Malcolm, of Loughborough University, argues that while many changes have been introduced in recent years, there are many limitations which must be addressed.

“Professional sport can be a highly dangerous occupation and whilst many sports governing bodies have made significant strides towards managing brain injuries, the government inquiry reflects public concerns that more should be done,” said Dr Malcolm, reader in Sociology Sport from the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at the university.

“There are both some quick wins and longer terms changes that can be made to reduce the dangers and so safeguard the future of these highly popular and culturally important activities.”

Dr Malcom said some of the issues that need to be addressed are that all existing protocols treat concussions as having a singular rather than cumulative impact on health; current protocols treat children more conservatively than adults and monitoring and evaluation is limited at best.

In his report, Dr Malcolm states that in the past decade, rising public health concerns about brain injuries in sport – both concussion and chronic traumatic encephalopathy – have reinvigorated research in the field.

“Specifically, as coroners decreed that the neurodegenerative illnesses of former athletes were a form of ‘industrial disease,’ questions were asked about the sport’s subcultural practices and a range of harm reduction measures were initiated,” he wrote.

“The previous routine dismissal of concussions as short-lived and relatively trivial events has been replaced by claims that there is now a concussion epidemic or crisis.”

The report also recommends three radical future changes to ensure a safer and more robust environment surrounding the issue of concussion:

■ Combine sport medicine and public health under a new concussion regulatory body.

■ Review employment practices to protect the clinical autonomy of sports healthcare workers.

■ Invoke comprehensive cultural change so that the precautionary principle currently applied to concussion applies to all sports injuries.

The paper is published as the government’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (DCMS) meet to discuss the scientific evidence on head trauma in sport and links with neurodegenerative disease such as dementia.

To read Dr Malcolm’s report, entitled The Impact of the Concussion Crisis on Safeguarding in Sport, in its entirety, visit: