Top surgeon in concussion talks with NRL
A leading brain surgeon has begun discussions with the NRL about using small impact sensors stuck behind a player’s ear to curb the confusion around the long-term impact of concussion on elite rugby league players.
Dr Richard Parkinson, who is preparing a second paper on the effects of head injuries in the sport, has been in dialogue with the NRL about how they can use the miniature devices attached to an athlete’s head to better understand the effect high-force collisions can have on long-term health.
The sensors, widely referred to as accelerometers, are likely to be trialled in batting helmets by Cricket Australia and there are serious discussions about trying them in elite level rugby league. Their use is not foreign to Australian football codes with Randwick first trialling them in rugby union’s Shute Shield competition last year. In New Zealand in August, Otago rugby reps began wearing microchip sensors to measure the impact of tackles on the head.
Research is also under way to determine if a specially made mouthguard can help detect when a player is enduring symptoms of concussion given humans are thought to produce specific chemicals in saliva when suffering a head knock. There are no definitive findings yet.
But the use of accelerometers could be the first step towards providing more clarity around the controversial concussion guidelines in the NRL.
‘‘It’s almost impossible to predict a concussion on anything other than symptomatic and subjective criteria; in other words what a player says,’’ Dr Parkinson said. ‘‘There’s no current [physical] test other than maybe putting them on a treadmill [to quantify concussion symptoms]. Most of the time if you do an MRI on these guys it’s normal.
‘‘Something I would like to do – and I have been having discussions with the NRL about this – is to see if we can combine that with an accelerometer test. Put an accelerometer on the patient and say, ‘well, guess what he’s having symptoms plus he’s had a significant head knock and then that’s enough to take them off’.
‘‘Essentially what happens is if the head sustains a trauma or acceleration this thing measures the force of the acceleration or deceleration and measures the direction. What you get is a thing called a vector.
‘‘For example, if you get a knock that hits your head from side to side it’s usually worse than a front to back knock.’’
Under current rules players are required to pass a standardised sideline concussion test within 15 minutes of coming off the field for a head knock otherwise they are ruled out of a game. The NRL is yet to employ independent doctors to administer such exams.
Knights international James McManus was the latest high-profile player to retire due to the lingering effects of multiple concussions.
A spokesman for the NRL said biosensors were are still in the research phase of concussion prevention.
The NRL has held preliminary discussions with Parkinson who it says is welcome to apply to the NRL Research Board to conduct a specific study into the devices.
The issue of concussions in rugby league was again prominent in the 2016 grand final when Storm forward Dale Finucane threw his body back into the defensive line late in the Sharks’ gripping win despite vision later emerging of a trainer indicating he needed to leave the field for a mandatory concussion test.
Finucane, who came off the field only minutes later, made the initial contact on Andrew Fifita before his match-winning try. It was one of a number of head knocks suffered by players on both sides during a brutal climax to the NRL season.