IRFU doctor: Coverage of concussion overly focused on rugby

The head of medical services at the IRFU has come out in defence of rugby’s treatment of concussion and head injury, saying “we’ve set a very low mark in terms of diagnosing concussion”.

Dr Rod McLaughlin, speaking at the Web Summit at the RDS today, suggested that the rugby is now leading the way in Ireland.

“If you run into someone on the rugby pitch, there’s no clash of heads, you fall to the ground and one of you staggers getting up, under rugby rules you are off with suspected concussion,” he said, as reported by RTE.ie.

“If you apply that to most other sports in Ireland, I think you would be watching games where you would be demanding many more people come off.”

McLaughlin feels that media interest in and coverage of concussion in sport is disproportionately focused on rugby.

“It’s really interesting to watch the media watch a rugby match and look for potential concussion and then the same people, watching a different sport, see the same incident and don’t pay it a bit of attention,” he said.

“At the moment we have a culture and a belief in Ireland that the only place you can get a concussion is on a rugby pitch, which is crazy.

“This can happen with any sport on a pitch and we need people to understand it.”

McLaughlin acknowledged that many in rugby had previously underestimated the seriousness of concussion, but said his organisation had worked hard to change that mindset.

“The biggest thing we had to do was change the culture,” he said. “We surveyed our professional players in 2011.

“80% of them didn’t think concussion was a problem and 7% of them didn’t realise they’d had a concussion.

“We’ve had to work hard at changing the culture and that involved educating the players, so they could understand what their concussion is and the seriousness of it.

McLaughlin called on the media not to sensationalise the problem of concussion, but instead report on the issue responsibly.

“I do think there is a lot of focus on it and some of the coverage is inappropriate. In rugby, there’s around one concussion in every 30 [matches].”

“That means the vast majority of players will go through a season without being concussed.

“Reading the media coverage you would think everybody is going to be concussed every game.”

Jonathan Sexton was sidelined for several months after a head injury sustained last year.

It's not the first time the IRFU has defended its

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They said at the time: "In light of some disappointing and inaccurate commentary in the media by individuals with no medical expertise, the IRFU would like to clarify some facts pertaining to the medical management of Ireland international Johnny Sexton. Johnny has been symptom free for 2 months.

"All of the medical experts directly involved in the management of Johnny Sexton are satisfied that he is fit to return to the field of play."