Attitudes to concussion need ‘culture change’

A tendency to "brush under the carpet" likely concussion injuries suffered in sport needs to be changed, a conference was told yesterday.

Shane Mooney, the IRFU’s first aid and injury prevention co-ordinator, said concussion in rugby was one of the most complex injuries to diagnose and people involved with teams needed to be educated about it.

He said a serious change in attitude is needed and players should leave the pitch if there’s any concern after getting a knock on the head. “There’s a huge culture change required and we need to get to a stage where a person who goes back onto a pitch with an obvious head injury is booed rather cheered.”

“We must try to get to a stage where, if there’s a possibility of concussion, a player is removed from the pitch. It’s a medical issue,” Mr Mooney said.

Around 160,000 people play rugby in Ireland, including 120,000 underage players.

Mr Mooney said those in charge of teams need to be educated about the signs and symptoms, the dangers involved and about working with the medical professionals.

He also said there was no evidence scrum caps or helmets prevented concussion.

He was speaking at an international Emergency Medical Services (EMS) conference, in Killarney, Co Kerry, with experts in trauma and head injury among the 250-strong attendance.

The IRFU has instructed its members that in the case of suspected, or confirmed, concussion, a player must be immediately removed from the pitch, not allowed to return, and must be medically assessed.

Under IRFU rules, if there is a suspected, or confirmed, concussion, an adult will not be allowed play for 21 days, while a player aged under 20 cannot play for 23 days.

Mr Mooney’s statements come in the wake of comments in yesterday’s Irish Examiner by former Ireland and Lions’ rugby manager Donal Lenihan that young players should have certain levels of neck strength to lessen the impact at scrum time and avoid possible neck injuries.

Meanwhile, the conference also heard of a dramatic improvement in the time it takes the air ambulance service to transport patients to hospitals.

In 2011, only 53% of patients got to cardiology departments within a 90-minute timeframe, but that had now risen to 89%.

Dave Hennelly, clinical director of the Air Ambulance Service, said this was because paramedics had been trained to start treatment of, for example, a heart attack victim at the scene, with the result that the patient could be taken directly to the hospital cardiac unit bypassing the emergency room.