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I won't let you down; why 20% of Men's and Women's Super League players underreported suspected concussions
Tadmor, Daniel Till, Kevin Phillips, Gemma Brown, James Fairbank, Laura Hendricks, Sharief Johnston, Rich D. Longworth, Thomas Stokes, Keith Jones, Ben
Tadmor, Daniel
Till, Kevin
Phillips, Gemma
Brown, James
Fairbank, Laura
Hendricks, Sharief
Johnston, Rich D.
Longworth, Thomas
Stokes, Keith
Jones, Ben
Abstract
Objectives
Quantify and identify factors associated with concussion underreporting in Super League rugby league players.
Design
Cross sectional survey.
Methods
During the 2022 season preseason, 422 Men's and Women's Super League players completed an online survey quantifying player demographics, rugby playing history, concussion history, prevalence of, and reasons for underreporting concussion, concussion knowledge and long-term implications and perceptions of concussion.
Results
Overall, 20% of respondents stated they did not report concussion-related symptoms to medical staff during the 2020 and 2021 seasons. The two most common reasons for underreporting concussion were ‘didn't want to be ruled out of a match’ (35%) and ‘didn't want to let down team’ (24%). 65% of players reported an appropriate level of knowledge about concussion and potential long-term implications at the start of their senior rugby career, versus 89% now. In relation to concussion knowledge, symptoms were correctly identified on 74% of occasions. 57% of players surveyed were concerned about the potential long-term implications from concussion, and 11% of players would encourage their/family members' children to not play rugby league.
Conclusions
The proportion of Super League players who did not report concussion symptoms was similar to rugby league players in Australia. The main reasons for not reporting concussion appeared to be due to perceptions of what is beneficial for the team, suggesting both performance and medical staff should collectively encourage players to report concussion. A player's attitude towards concussion is potentially an individual modifiable risk factor and should be considered within the concussion management of players.
Keywords
concussion, rugby, rugby league, TBI, diagnosis, player welfare
Date
2023
Type
Journal article
Journal
Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport
Book
Volume
26
Issue
12
Page Range
688-693
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Behavioural and Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Files
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
License
CC BY 4.0
File Access
Open
Notes
© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Sports Medicine Australia. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).