When our kids participate in any kind of sport, they run the risk of an injury.
When it comes to head injuries in sport — understandably — many of us are faced with making the tough decision on whether or not to let our kids play a sport which we think MIGHT have a higher likelihood of concussion, like contact or combat sports.
Concern over concussion runs deep, but do the benefits of playing contact sport outweigh the risks? Sometimes, it’s not as easy as saying, I don’t WANT my child to play a particular sport. There’s more to it. This is what we’ll be discussing on today’s show.
In our conversation with Byron Field, you’ll hear where his interest in this topic began as a kid in the early 1990s, and how it has shaped his professional career — he’s been a medic in many different sports, including more than a decade working in professional rugby here in Australia and in the UK.
Now, Bryon is a PhD candidate with a focus on monitoring head impact and concussion in rugby.
In the episode, Byron shares some of the latest evidence on concussion, we chat about tech tools that can help, the importance of nailing technique, along with what we SHOULD be doing if a child or adolescent does get a head knock or is diagnosed with concussion.
EPISODE PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, 10 MARCH 2022
HELPFUL RESOURCES
- Sport Australia: www.concussioninsport.gov.au/parents_and_teachers
- Brain Injury Australia: www.braininjuryaustralia.org.au/education-campaigns/concussion-in-sport
- The Sydney Children’s Hospital Network: www.schn.health.nsw.gov.au/fact-sheets/concussion-and-mild-head-injury
- Concussion Hub: www.nswrl.com.au/about/documents/concussion-hub
- Australian Football: https://resources.afl.com.au/afl/document/2021/04/26/9a186f44-ad48-4fab-b6ab-e4be45a578d7/Management-of-Sport-Related-Concussion-in-Australian-Football-25-April-2021-FINAL.pdf