Concussive head injury
How influential will this damning report be in changing local, regional, national and international sporting bodies approaches to concussive head injury?
Wearing my neurological prevention hat this report from the legal perspective is damming about the conflicts of interest in relation to so-called ‘consensus statements on concussion in sport’.
The International Olympic Committee, Fifa, World Rugby and other sport governing bodies now face a new call to change their concussion policies from a group of academics, researchers, clinicians and carers, who argue that the process has consistently underplayed the risks of concussive and sub-concussive impacts. Why? I suspect business. There is a lot of money in sport any interventions to reduce concussive head injuries may impact the viewability/enjoyability of the sports concerned.
The criticism below focuses on the work of the Concussion In Sport Group (CISG), whose work is funded by the IOC, Fifa, World Rugby, the FEI (the International Federation for Equestrian Sports), the FIA and the International Ice Hockey Federation, and shapes concussion policy across both elite and grassroots sport. The report highlights how conflicts of interest, however subtle, affect the findings and recommendations of reports that are clearly very influential in setting standards and procedures for the sports concerned.
The evidence is now overwhelming that repetitive head injury is bad for the brain and is a major risk factor for developing dementia in the future.
Any holistic approach to preventing all-cause dementia has to include head-injury prevention, including sports-related concussive head injury, as part of its strategy.
The question I ask is how influential will this report be in changing local, regional, national and international sporting bodies approaches to this very serious issue?
Casper et al. Toward Complete, Candid, and Unbiased International Consensus Statements on Concussion in Sport. The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 49 (2021): 372-377.
Five international consensus statements on concussion in sports have been published. This commentary argues that there is a strong need for a new approach to them that foregrounds public health expertise and patient-centered guidance. Doing so will help players, parents and practitioners keep perspective about these potentially life-altering injuries especially when they recur.
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General Disclaimer: Please note that the opinions expressed here are those of Professor Giovannoni and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry nor Barts Health NHS Trust and are not meant to be interpreted as personal clinical advice.