This week the RFU released it’s Injury Surveillance Report, which unveiled some interesting results particularly around my favourite topic concussions.
The report concluded that concussion is the second most common injury in rugby with 54 occurrences during matches (at Premiership Level) and five during training. The report went on to conclude:
‘The incidence of match concussion was 6.7 per 1000 player hours. This equates to one concussion reported per team every four matches.
This was above the mean figure of 4.6 per 1000 player hours over the last decade and fell outside the expected variation for the first time during the study period. This increase in concussion incidence is likely to be related to increased awareness, greater focus on and understanding of criteria for diagnosis together with the introduction of Pitchside Suspected Concussion Assessment Trial in the Premiership in 2012/13.’
England Professional Rugby Injury Surveillance Project Report
It is believed that increased awareness of concussion diagnosis has raised the incidence of concussion. However, the Project Steering Group are still working on developing clearer understanding of the return to play guidelines which should be available towards the end of the year. They have now introduced Compulsory concussion education for the professional game in England with a series of online concussion education modules.
“The education programme is designed to increase awareness and reinforce best practice, and will be aligned with the Zurich Consensus on Concussion in Sport and the International Rugby Board’s Concussion Guidelines.
Its introduction has been approved by the Professional Game Board (PGB) which also supported a number of further recommendations made by its Medical Advisory Group following the Professional Rugby Concussion Forum held at Twickenham Stadium last November.
Those recommendations include:
- Mandatory review of match footage of the mechanism of injury by the assessing medical practitioner before a player can be cleared to return to the field following the Pitchside Concussion Assessment (PSCA)
- A new review process for individual PSCA cases
- A commitment to ensure best practice and objectivity in the Graduated Return to Play protocol which is specific to rugby union
- Support for long-term player health studies looking to establish the prevalence of neurodegenerative disease among retired players
All the stakeholders in the English professional game will continue to engage with the IRB PSCA Working Group to ensure that the best possible decisions regarding any possible development of the PSCA process can be made as quickly and accurately as possible. “
This represents a significant step forward on concussion awareness and treatment in rugby and this has been further reinforced by the release of the following advisory documentation sent out to all clubs (at least in Surrey) on Monday 10th February. The attached link takes you to the main article. In here individuals can take a respective test relevant to their role in rugby. Just as a point of reference I scored 90% (I got one wrong……. a disaster to my reputation).
There is still so much more that needs to be done in this area and this represents a significant step forward, but from my own experiences I can’t help feel that the medical awareness needs to be brought into the coaching qualifications. Such measures are an important step in leading a change in attitude however this still works on the principle that everybody is willing to learn and unfortunately there are far too many people in life who do not wish to learn about things that they feel are not relevant to them, and I have been guilty of it myself in the past.
I can’t help but feel that true development of learning can only come from an enforced stance, which goes against normal RFU mantra. If compulsory enforcement works in the professional game then surely there has to be a way it can work in the amateur version for the good of all players and coaches involved.
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