Concussions and Protecting Our Players

[Hawko]

Reported today in the SMH that Craig Clarke, ex captain of the Chiefs and now playing in Ireland, has had 10 concussion incidents in the last 22 months. He is now on an indefinite break for testing and recovery, which is obviously a good thing.

But, you have to ask the question: "How can a player get concussed 10 times in less than two years and no one has taken any action to give him time off to heal. Berrick Barnes had a long break after about 4 incidents; and there were many who questioned whether he should have had a longer break or even retired. If he has problems later on, club coaches and doctors are going to have a very hard time explaining how they allowed such a huge accumulation if it goes legal, as well it might.

It seems that concussion is still getting lip service in some rugby operations. When is it going to be taken seriously?

 

[Braveheart81]

It seems that concussion is still getting lip service in some rugby operations. When is it going to be taken seriously?

When the majority of current players take it seriously.

Until players start erring on the side of caution rather than on the side of wanting to play down the issue so they can get back on the park, it will continue being a major problem.

 

[D-Box]

It will also take club medical officers having the balls to stand up to the coaches (remember part of their job is keeping players on the park) and the coaches welcoming this instruction. It is still to easy to err on the side of they will be OK rather than being hard-line.

 

[Braveheart81]

It will also take club medical officers having the balls to stand up to the coaches (remember part of their job is keeping players on the park) and the coaches welcoming this instruction. It is still to easy to err on the side of they will be OK rather than being hard-line.

Is this actually happening though?

The concussion tests and guidelines are so reliant on the player's response that it seems to me like the players are the only ones who can really make a change.

The doctor can only go by the responses the player gives and the coach will want the player back on the field (or playing as soon as possible) once given the all clear by the medicos.

 

[USARugger]

I've had friends who were told no more grid iron/rugby for life after less than 10 concussions over much longer than 2 years..

Obviously the severity of the concussion is a factor but holy shit 10 concussions is a terrifying number I don't care how long of a time frame.

 

[D-Box]

Is this actually happening though?

The concussion tests and guidelines are so reliant on the player's response that it seems to me like the players are the only ones who can really make a change.

The doctor can only go by the responses the player gives and the coach will want the player back on the field (or playing as soon as possible) once given the all clear by the medicos.

There are issues with the tests but you don't really need a fancy test to tell some players are concussed yet the keep playing. George Smith in the lions is a case in point. I don't care what the tests say he should never have come back on.

There has been some commentary questiong the tests development as those on expert panels recommending the test have often been paid in the development of them

Sent from my HTC_PN071 using Tapatalk

 

[Bardon]

Gloucester's Andy Hazell has had to retire due to concussion.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/rugby-union/26019840

The article also references a very interesting read about how all English players will undergo concussion training before next season starts.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/rugby-union/25717530

It's about time the game started to take this issue seriously. It may take some years to chance attitudes but at least it's a step in the right direction.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

From the NZ Herald

Rugby's ticking time-bomb is post-career health issues related to player head knocks.

There's not trouble at mill. There might be down the track, though. Big trouble - the sort that sounds hysterical and fanciful now but in 20 years might be unavoidable. Might be a bit too real.
Rugby has a potential ticking time-bomb - a generation of professional rugby players and more to come - who could be facing debilitating and severe post-career health issues related to multiple head knocks.
Concussion, if the pun can be excused, is the game's biggest headache. It's a problem because of the scale and potential longevity of the severity.
The latest injury surveillance project out of the English Premiership shows that for the second consecutive year, concussion was the most prevalent injury. There were 54 concussions on match days during the 2012-13 season and another five in training.

Read on - More here: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11208087

 

[boyo]

It's mungoball, but relevant nonetheless.

Knights donating brains to science

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/2151817/knights-donating-brains-to-science/?cs=306

 

[louie]

This is a great and long overdue.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/shu...oncussion-policy/story-e6frf3ou-1226872659517

Shute Shield club Warringah Rats introduce stringent concussion policy

• Jon Geddes​
• The Daily Telegraph​
• April 02, 2014 2:22PM​

The Warringah Rats will introduce strict concussion guidelines. Source: Martin Lange / News Corp Australia​

THE Warringah Rats have moved to ensure the long-term health of their players by introducing one of the code’s toughest concussion policies.
The protocols were formulated by club doctor Tom Harwood, an emergency specialist at Royal North Shore Hospital, in conjunction with club president Phil Parsons.
They are more stringent than the Australian Rugby Union’s guidelines and include a mandatory two-week stand down period for players who suffer concussion or suspected concussion.
That comprises a first week of rest only, a second week of a medically supervised ARU sanctioned “Graduated Return to Play” and then a medical clearance from Dr Harwood.
The ARU guidelines are for a concussed player are to rest for 24 hours, follow the Graduated Return to Play program and possibly return the following week with a written doctor’s clearance.
Dr Harwood knows all about the effects of head injuries through his work in the emergency unit.
“We are a community football club and if we can prevent any adverse outcome by being a bit more conservative then we will, so we have added this extra week to it,” Dr Harwood said.

“It is mainly that we think the extra week is more likely to be more beneficial than harmful.”
Parsons is passionate about the issue as he witnesses the long-term effects of concussion on former teammates.
“I see guys I played with who are now in poor health and wanted to make sure we took the right position, ” he said.
“These kids are in our care for a short period of time and we have the utmost responsibility to ensure that they go home in the best possible health and we keep them in the best possible health.
“We are not a professional sporting organisation and I thought that some of the ARU policies were designed around some pressure that might apply to get professional footballers back on the paddock.
“These guys don’t deserve to end up with long-term brain damage because of a game of rugby.”
All Warringah coaches will also be supplied with the ARU approved “Pocket Concussion Recognition Tool” to help identify concussed players.
The policy has already been strictly enforced with star back Ed Doyle being sidelined for the past five weeks after suffering concussion in the Kiama Sevens.

 

[boyo]

Toulouse condemned after player allowed to play on following severe head knock

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/toulouse-condemned-after-player-allowed-to-play-on-following-severe-head-knock-20140512-zr9yh.html#ixzz31U72J300

 

[It is what it is]

One would hope that behind closed doors, a delegation of Toulouse players and/or their leadership group would confront the coaching staff about this unacceptable lack of care and concern for the welfare of one of their team mates.

 

[Bardon]

With the way Fritz left the field it's terrible to think that anyone felt he was fit to return. let alone being hurried up by Noves. If the unions aren't going to come together and have a standard implementation of the IRB directive to best safeguard the players then the players need to come together for their own sake.

Also senior players at clubs need to set an example at the start of the season and change the culture around cheating the baseline test.

Unions, Coaches and even independent medical staff are not putting the players welfare as the number 1 consideration when making these decisions. You only have to look at bloodgate to see how much influence a domineering coach can have over a doctor.

Ultimately players are the ones who are going to have to live with the long term consequences of the current system and they're the ones that need to change it now. If not for their own sake then for those who come after them. No amount of compensation with give people back the quality of life they deserve long after they've hung up their boots.

This absolutely has to be a player led change. No amount of protocols are going to keep players safe until such time that the players stop colluding with the clubs to subvert the protocols. Hopefully this time enough players look and think "that could have been me" and we see more than just twitter posts coming out of this.

 

[Brumby Jack]

Story on Shontayne Hape and his battle with concussion

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/league/news/article.cfm?c_id=79&objectid=11264856

 

[Bairdy]

Came across an article from Shontayne Hape about his issues with concussion. Well worth a read if you have the time: http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11264856

These particular points stuck out at me, though

Snip

I got in touch with Michael Lipman, the former Bath captain, who had been forced to retire by multiple concussions. He said he'd experienced exactly the same stuff that was going on with me, and advised me to listen to the specialists and stop playing.

But you just think "this is my living, this is what I do". I'd had three reconstructions and barely any cartilage left, so I always thought I'd retire because of my knee. The docs tell you "we can fix that, we can get a new knee, we can fix that shoulder". But with your head, you only get one head.

Snip

TRYING TO learn again is a challenge. I can remember things that happened a long time ago but things that happened yesterday, names, numbers and stuff, I constantly forget.

Growing up I used to wonder what was wrong with my granddad when he couldn't remember things. I'm not a granddad, I'm in my 30s. I've got the concentration span of a little kid. My oldest son can sit at the table and do stuff for hours. When I do my university assignments I struggle. Half an hour and that's me.

 

[badabing59]

Came across an article from Shontayne Hape about his issues with concussion. Well worth a read if you have the time: http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11264856

These particular points stuck out at me, though

Sobering story. Should be compulsory reading for every rugby coach and administrator.

 

[suckerforred]

Surely this wil, hopefully spark some action.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/rug...rugby-has-a-crisis-on-its-hands-30319582.html

I know the ARU is looking at new protocols. In the Reds game over the weekend, Taps copped a knock. The Reds Dr went and checked him & allowed him to return to play. I then saw one of the surgeons & the Reds dr looking a a tablet on the side line & Taps was pulled. I believe that they were reviewing the footage & made the decision to pull him off. This is good. Indepentant oversight.

 

[Cat_A]

Sobering story. Should be compulsory reading for every rugby coach and administrator.

Yes, but in saying that it should be compulsory reading for every coach and administrator, you are completely disregarding the role of the player in this. In Hape's own words..."advised me to listen to the specialists and stop playing"
I understand that there are systemic issues around concussion injuries but when (especially on this thread) are we going to place some responsibility on the players to be honest with medical staff and themselves? And more than that, listen to what specialists (with their 12 years of tertiary education) tell them and do what they are told?

Yes, there are problems with the concussion laws around the world, but there is a bigger problem with the culture of contact sport that glorifies toughness, "gladiatorial battles" and the like.

There is a reason that AFL, rugby league and gridiron AT ALL LEVELS are all facing the same problem, and it has very little to do with protocols which are USUALLY followed to the letter by medical staff (their insurance demands it). Let's look at the player's own personal responsibility and the pressure they feel from us as spectators, their coaches and their teammates.

I think it's time we stopped hanging all the unions out to dry here while wringing our hands and blaming administrators and medical staff. In Hape's own words he was told to stop playing and disregarded the advice. What more were the specialists supposed to do?

 

[suckerforred]

.......Let's look at the player's own personal responsibility and the pressure they feel from us as spectators, their coaches and their teammates.

I think it's time we stopped hanging all the unions out to dry here while wringing our hands and blaming administrators and medical staff. In Hape's own words he was told to stop playing and disregarded the advice. What more were the specialists supposed to do?

Although I agree with what you have said here Cat, and think that education of the players is a vital part cog of the gearbox that is involved, I also think that there IS presure brought to bear on the players, and medical staff, from the coaches & administrators and this can not be lightly discounted.

A player, at this point in time, is not likely to tell a coach to 'bugger off' if said coach controls his/her playing future. Education accross the whole code is important. It is through this education that the players are going to feel empowered enough to make the correct decisions.

 

[It is what it is]

A solution is going to take just 2 things - leadership and accountability.
It's amazing how good things happen when they work in tandem.