Athletes still trying to hide concussions
MONTREAL If the word “concussion” was replaced by “brain injury,” perhaps more athletes would admit they have had one.
That was one suggestion from Scott Delaney, who led a study by a team from the McGill University Health Centre into athletes’ attitudes on concussions.
Their paper, Why Professional Football Players Chose Not to Reveal Their Concussion Symptoms during a Practice or Game, was published this month in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine. Delaney’s team hopes to find ways to get athletes to seek treatment when they experience concussion symptoms such as headaches, nausea or blurred vision.
With multiple cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known as CTE, among former athletes suffering from the long-term effects of concussions making news, one might expect athletes to be eager to seek medical help after a blow to the head. But McGill researchers found while most know what a concussion is, how it may damage the brain and how they are treated, many shrug it off or try to hide it.
“Maybe we should just call it brain injury, which is what it is,” Delaney said. “Maybe that would drive it home a little more . ... It might just change the culture if people said ‘She injured her brain. This is serious.’”
The research team surveyed 454 CFL players. Players anonymously filled out questionnaires during the 2016 pre-season.
They found 23.4 per cent felt they suffered a concussion during the 2015 season and 82.1 per cent of that group did not seek treatment for a suspected concussion at least once during the season.
Only six per cent who said they would see a doctor after a game did so, and only about 20 per cent always reported concussions to medical staff.
The report noted “players seemed educated about the concussion evaluation process and possible treatment guidelines, but this knowledge did not necessarily translate into safe and appropriate behaviour at the time of injury.”