Changing concussion terminology could help
• If the word “concussion” was replaced by “brain injury” perhaps more athletes would admit that they’ve 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 toward 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 t eam hopes to find ways to get athletes to seek t reatment when they experience concussion symptoms like headaches, nausea or blurred vision.
With multiple cases of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, known as CTE, among f ormer athle t es suffering from the long-term effects of concussions making news in recent years, one might expect current athletes to be eager to seek medical help after a blow to the head.
But the McGill researchers found that while most know what a concussion is, how it may damage the brain and how they are treated, many either shrug it off or try to make sure no one finds out.
“Maybe we should just call it brain injury, which it what it is,” said Delaney. “Maybe that would drive it home a little more.
“Concussions are so ubiquitous, maybe something as simple as changing the word we use can reinforce the severity of the injury. It might just change the culture if people said ‘ She injured her brain. This is serious.’ ”
The research team surveyed 454 Canadian Football League players with support from the CFL and the CFL Players’ Association. Players anonymously filled out questionnaires during the 2016 pre-season.
They found that 23.4 per cent felt they had suffered a concussion during the 2015 season and that 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 the team medical staff.
The report’s conclusions noted that “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.”
About half of those who did not seek treatment said they didn’t feel the injury was serious enough to leave the game. Other common reasons included fear of being taken off the field or of missing future games.