Sports Concussion South Africa
Research in Port Elizabeth

The latest in international concussion management protocols and technology is available to South African schoolchildren and amateur athletes via the Sports Concussion Programme.

The criteria were often subjective and difficult to measure and, as a result, guidelines to concussed players may have been based on subjective grading systems (of which there are many) and were poorly individualised. The emergence of computerised neuropsychological testing, batteries of tests that enable the clinician to gain more insight into the function of the athlete’s brain, provided new impetus to concussion research and refocused our clinical approach. We incorporated many of the protocols we had been using in our experience with professional athletes in particular, high level rugby players. In order to allow the protocols utilised in professional sportspersons to be accessible to amateur athletes and scholars, the South African Sports Concussion Programme was launched in The current sponsor of the sports concussion programme is Dolorol and the subsidized cost is R380 per year. The implementation of the protocol has had a number of benefits. Providing specific individualised and scientific data on the management of concussion with respect to return to play decisions for which there previously existed only vague return to play guidelines. Providing a sound medico-legal framework in which to more accurately determine when a player is fit to return to play. Affording opportunities for data collection and research in the area of concussion in sport. Despite the emergence of computerised brain function testing, clinical assessment of the concussed sports person is still seen as of the utmost importance. As a result, we have developed both a symptom analysis system and a clinical examination incorporating both internationally recommended criteria as well as techniques evolving from our own experience. We are confident that the strategies we have developed for the management of concussion match international standards. The challenge is to make these protocols accessible to as many individuals, particularly scholars, in South Africa. Sports Concussion South Africa appreciates that the field of sports concussion management is evolving and we will continue to seek further international exchanges and research opportunities to enhance the stature of the programmes available to South African sportspersons. As clinicians who deal with concussed athletes on the field and in the consulting room, we remain motivated in using education as our most powerful tool in keeping athletes from suffering from the potentially serious consequences of mild traumatic brain injury. A study presented at the American College of Sports Medicine annual meeting by Kevin Guskiewicz and others and about to be published in Med Sci Sports Exerc claims that the risk of depression later in life is three times higher in those American football players who have suffered three or more concussive episodes in their career. Two of South African rugby’s most accomplished and well-known medical doctors have introduced a preventative concussion programme which should go a long way towards alleviating the dangers that led to the tragedy in Pretoria a few months ago. It is defined as a complex pathophysiological process affecting the brain, induced by traumatic biomechanical forces. The sports physicians associated with Sports Concussion South Africa countrywide have experience in treating athletes from school to international level.