Concussion knowledge among rehabilitation staff

A concussion knowledge survey was completed by 561 rehabilitation professionals across a wide range of disciplines in a nationwide rehabilitation hospital system. Item questions were structured to reflect key areas of concussion knowledge targeted in a prior consensus statement. The vast majority of staff provided responses consistent with the current concussion literature regarding concussion diagnosis and symptom presentation immediately after concussion. Greater variability was seen for items assessing beliefs about the typical recovery from concussion, best care practices, and long-term effects from concussion. Factors such as profession, years of experience, and work with concussion or traumatic brain injury were not consistently related to better performance on the survey. Prior concussion-focused education/training was related to better survey performance. This survey highlights the pressing need to educate frontline health providers regarding concussion recovery and best care practices.

In-vivo measurement of tri-axial loading at the head during the rugby tackle

To investigate the anatomical distribution of linear and rotational forces during the tackle scenario, male rugby players performed a total of 48 trials, as ball carrier or tackler. Participants wore headgear accommodating three global positioning system units measuring uniaxial acceleration at the occipital region (OR), left tempero-parietal (LT-PR) and right tempero-parietal region (RT-PR). An additional unit was located at the cervico-thoracic spinal region in a custom vest. There was a significant main effect for tackle condition (P < 0.001), with the tackler exposed to significantly greater load than the ball carrier, supporting epidemiological observations. A repeated measure general linear model also revealed a significant (P < 0.001) main effect for unit location upon 3D load, with significantly higher load at the CSR (1.63 ± 0.54 a.u.) and OR (1.67 ± 0.94 a.u.) units when compared to the LT-PR (1.23 ± 0.39 a.u.) and RT-PR (1.21 ± 0.44 a.u.) units. The anatomical specificity in loading supports epidemiological observations and provides an insight into potential concussion aetiology.