February's Thought: Why is Concussion Education so important at Universities?

54% of students don't know when to go back to sport following a concussion...

Workshop at University of Reading

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An improvement in concussion awareness and education is essential in university sports. Yet, many student-athletes are missing out on critical knowledge about concussion management and safe return-to-play procedures, which can have serious consequences. 

We conducted research with student-athletes at the University of Bristol to understand their current knowledge surrounding concussion and protocol at the university. 

Stakeholder workshops, which centred personal and shared experiences, revealed that student-athletes significantly lack knowledge surrounding concussion protocol. Only two participants, both with histories of concussion, had seen the government guidelines before. This highlights that student-athletes do not know about or use existing support, and reinforces claims that protocol existence does not equal adherence (Walshe, Daly and Ryan, 2023). 

Over half (54%) of survey respondents admitted they wouldn’t know when it’s safe to return to play after a concussion. This aligns with research by Malcolm et al. (2023), which found that 50% of British students would continue participating in sports even when experiencing concussion symptoms.

A lack of concussion knowledge, therefore, manifests in athletes’ behaviour, resulting in poor injury management. Not only this, but it can also put athletes at significant risk of second-impact syndrome (where someone sustains a second head injury before fully recovering from a previous one, leading to rapid brain swelling due to the brain's vulnerable state). Second impact syndrome can prolong recovery, worsen symptoms, and increase the likelihood of long-term conditions like Alzheimer’s.

These knowledge deficits often appear in coaches too. As one of our expert interviewees highlighted, “I’ve seen grassroots players be put back on the pitch much more quickly because [coaches] lack knowledge.” 

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At Concussion Toolkit, we are here to bridge this gap in education through our interactive, hands-on workshops, which are designed to educate coaches and athletes about concussion prevention, detection, and recovery. These sessions aim to foster a shift towards a safer sporting culture, focusing on promoting safe play rather than the traditional “play-on” mentality. 

Want to find out more about our educational workshops? Click the button below.

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References 

Malcolm, D., Hardwicke, J., and Kenyon, J. A. (2023). Concussion knowledge, attitudes and reporting intention amongst UK university student-athletes: Implications for institutions, coaches and future research. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 19(1), pp.88-98.

Walshe, A., Daly, E., and Ryan, L. (2023). Existence≠ adherence: Exploring barriers to best practice in sports-related concussion return to play (SRC-return-to-play) in Irish amateur female sport. Physical Therapy in Sport, 63, pp. 1-8.