Newcastle parents, coaches and athletes can learn how to better recognise the signs and symptoms of a sports-related concussion via an online seminar this Thursday, September 16.
Clinical neuropsychologist and research fellow at the University of Newcastle and the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) Associate Professor Andrew Gardner will lead the seminar.
Former National Rugby League (NRL) star Martin Lang, who suffered multiple concussions during his nine-year career, will also help provide information on signs and symptoms of concussion and when an athlete should return to play.
“We are running an educational seminar for community-level athletes, their parents and their coaches. We really want to get that message of the three Rs out there,” Professor Gardner said.
“Recognise that an injury has occurred, remove the athlete from play, and refer them for a medical assessment.
“The seminar will be focused on what a concussion potentially looks like and the process you need to follow to correctly rehabilitate the player and safely return them to the field.”
Professor Gardner said there was an ongoing need for continued education about sport-related concussions in professional athletes and children playing sport.
“At the professional level, athletes are cared for and treated by sideline medical teams whereas we don’t have medical practitioners and team physicians for everybody at the community level,” he said.
“We need to be educating the coaches, the parents, and the athletes themselves about what a concussion sign or symptom might look like instead of leaving the player out on the field and potentially risking another knock.”
Some of the more apparent signs of a concussion are loss of consciousness, balance disturbances, repetition of words, and vomiting in less common cases.
Professor Gardner said concussions could also present silently, with subtle symptoms that only the athlete themselves would recognise.
“Athletes suffering a concussion might experience blurred vision, headaches, not feeling quite right, and memory disturbance. These are all subjective, internal symptoms that no external person would detect,” he said.
“So, this is why athletes need to be thoroughly educated in recognising a concussion.”
These head injuries can lead to worse complications if left untreated, especially if the athlete experiences a second concussion.
“We see athletes in our clinic who were never treated properly for their first concussion and are experiencing worse symptoms and longer recovery periods during their second concussion,” Professor Gardner said.
“It might take a month or two for the athlete to recover or for their symptoms to resolve. Then, in very rare circumstances, there can be more catastrophic injuries and sometimes even death, which we refer to as Second Impact Syndrome.”
He said the brain was the most critical structure in the whole human body and needed to be treated with the same importance and urgency that a broken arm or leg would receive.
“If we have a broken arm or a torn ACL, we can see the injury and the athlete’s limited function. We take that injury really seriously and make sure we have rehabilitated the athlete correctly before returning them to play,” he said.
“But concussions are not well seen, and a lot of the signs and symptoms are subjective. Suddenly, we treat that differently and think a person can just run back onto the field and keep playing.
“We need to make sure they have been assessed thoroughly and have a gradual return to play, ensuring they aren’t going back onto the field while still suffering from a concussion.”
The community seminar is on Thursday, September 16 at 6 pm and is free to join via zoom and Facebook Live. People can register their attendance on the HMRI website.
Hayley McMahon