Concussion: Key Prevention Strategies
Concussions – minor brain injuries caused by a blow to the head – are a growing public health problem, particularly in sport. Preventing concussions is crucial to protecting the health and well-being of athletes. Fortunately, several effective strategies can be implemented to reduce the risk of these injuries [1].
Concussion education and awareness
Educate athletes:
- Provide clear, accessible information about concussions, including causes, symptoms, short- and long-term consequences and return-to-play protocols.
- Use a variety of teaching aids such as brochures, videos, presentations and interactive workshops to facilitate understanding.
- Encourage athletes to ask questions and express concerns about concussions.
Sensibiliser les entraîneurs:
- Train coaches to recognize the signs and symptoms of concussions, including behavioral changes, balance problems, headaches and confusion.
- Educate coaches on concussion management protocols, such as immediate withdrawal from play, medical evaluation and appropriate follow-up.
- Emphasize the importance of creating a safe training environment and promoting a sports culture that puts athlete health ahead of performance.
Raise parents’ awareness:
- Educate parents about concussions and the risks faced by their child athletes.
- Provide parents with tips on how to monitor their children for signs and symptoms of concussion.
- Encourage parents to contact coaches and medical staff if concussion is suspected.
Raise awareness among medical staff:
- Train doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals to properly assess and diagnose concussions.
- Regularly update medical staff on the latest knowledge and recommendations for concussion management.
- Promote collaboration between medical staff and other players involved in sport to ensure optimal care for injured athletes.
Sports rules and regulations to prevent concussion
- Apply and enforce rules and regulations to reduce head contact and dangerous hits.
- Adapt rules according to age, level of competition and type of sport.
- Prohibit dangerous practices such as intentional blows to the head, illegal charges and dangerous tackles.
- Severely penalize rules violations that increase the risk of concussion.
- Encourage a safe, responsible style of play that minimizes the risk of head injuries.
- Promote sportsmanship and respect among players.
- Emphasize movement control and avoidance techniques to minimize head contact.
Protective equipment and Brain injury
- Ensure that athletes wear protective equipment that is adequate, properly fitted and approved according to safety standards [2].
- Provide advice on the proper selection, fitting and maintenance of protective equipment.
- Regularly replace worn or damaged equipment.
- Helmets:
- Require the wearing of approved helmets for sports with a high risk of head contact, such as American soccer, ice hockey and rugby.
- Ensure that helmets fit properly and are free from damage.
- Face protection:
- Use face protectors for sports at risk of facial injury, such as lacrosse and ice hockey.
- Mouthguards:
- Encourage the use of mouthguards for sports that risk injury to the mouth and jaw, such as soccer, basketball and ice hockey.
- Choose comfortable, well-fitting mouthguards for optimal protection.
- Sport-specific equipment:
- Promote the use of additional protective equipment specific to certain sports, such as cervical collars for combat sports or padding for sliding sports.
Preventing Concussion through Adapted Training Techniques
- Teach athletes proper training techniques to improve neck strength, balance and proprioception (the ability to perceive body position and movement).
- Include muscle-strengthening exercises targeting neck and core muscles in training programs.
- Integrate balance and coordination exercises to improve stability and the ability to react quickly to changing situations.
- Train athletes in safe tackling and contact techniques.
- Emphasize control of movement, body position and use of proper technique to minimize the risk of head injury.
- Practice non-contact tackling and contact techniques at full speed before moving on to actual contact.
- Incorporate physical conditioning exercises to improve endurance and reduce fatigue.
- Fatigue can increase the risk of injury, including concussion.
- Improving athletes’ physical condition can help them stay focused and coordinated during training and competition.
Monitoring and follow-up of brain injuries
- Establish clear protocols for the identification, assessment and management of concussions.
- These protocols should include guidelines for coaches, parents and athletes on how to recognize the signs and symptoms of concussion.
- They should also define assessment and progressive return-to-play procedures.
- Train coaches and medical staff to recognize the signs and symptoms of concussion.
- These signs and symptoms can include headaches, dizziness, vision problems, nausea, vomiting, confusion, irritability, concentration and memory problems, and balance problems.
- Monitor injured athletes and ensure a safe and gradual return to play.
- Return to play should only take place after a full medical evaluation and complete resolution of symptoms.
- Return to play should be gradual, starting with low-intensity activities and gradually increasing the training load.
Collaboration and Communication
- Foster collaboration between athletes, coaches, parents, medical staff and sports administrators.
- Open and transparent communication between all stakeholders is essential to concussion prevention and management.
- Athletes must feel comfortable reporting concussion symptoms without fear of reprisal.
- Encourage a sports culture that puts athletes’ health before performance.
- Winning should never be more important than the health and safety of athletes.
- Create an environment where athletes are encouraged to report injuries and focus on full recovery before returning to activity.
- Implement injury reporting and tracking systems to facilitate decision-making and prevention.
- These systems can help identify concussion trends and patterns, and implement corrective measures to reduce risk.
What to do with all this information?
By adopting a comprehensive approach and implementing these effective prevention strategies, concussions can be prevented to a large extent. Awareness, education, appropriate rules and regulations, adequate protective equipment, training techniques.
Please note that we are not medical professionals, and that it is important to consult a physician if you suspect your child has suffered a concussion. The doctor’s recommendations take precedence over the advice presented in this article.
Sources :
[1] Ministère de l’Éducation, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche. (2015). Plan d’action pour la prévention et la gestion des concussions liées à la pratique d’activités récréatives et sportives. Government of Quebec. Accessed at the following URL: https://www.education.gouv.qc.ca/fileadmin/site_web/documents/loisir-sport/plandaction_commotions.pdf
[2] Government of Canada. 2021. Concussion prevention and risks. Consulted at the following URL: https://www.canada.ca/fr/sante-publique/services/maladies/commotions-cerebrales-signes-symptomes/commotions-cerebrales-prevention-risques.html
Karl Demers
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