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ATSU’s Dr. Tamara McLeod co-author on Conference on Concussion in Sport recommendations

A group of more than 100 expert researchers and clinicians from around the world has distilled and synthesized new scientific evidence and updated existing recommendations with the aim of optimizing the care of athletes at all levels of participation who have, or who are at risk of, concussion.

Based on the outcomes from the international Conference on Concussion in Sport, held in Amsterdam in October 2022, and published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the Statement is informed by 10 systematic reviews and methodology outlining the new consensus process. It took more than five years to complete. 

Tamara Valovich McLeod, PhD, ATC, FNATA, FNAK, FNAP, chair and director of A.T. Still University-Arizona School of Health Sciences’ (ATSU-ASHS) Athletic Training department, is a co-author on the sideline detection systematic review, the introduction papers for the SCAT6 and ChildSCAT6 and a listed author on the ChildSCAT6 tool.

In a bid to be more transparent and inclusive than in previous years, the process adopted anonymous voting, alternative viewpoints, open declarations of potential conflicts of interest, and included the views of athletes, a focus on para-athletes, and ethical perspectives.  

The Statement includes a series of new (SCOAT6, Child SCOAT6) and updated (CRT6, SCAT6, Child SCAT6) age appropriate tools for clinicians and sports organizations to help them better identify and manage sports related concussion in the short and longer term.

And it features new evidence-based strategies for returning to active sport and education after concussion; early exercise and treatment recommendations; approaches to prevention; targeted rehabilitation; and a call for a working group to be set up to guide further research on the potential long term effects of concussion on health. 

Among the key recommendations:

Prevention

Early interventions

Rehabilitation

Persisting symptoms

Recovery

Return to education and sport

Potential long term effects

Evidence gaps still to be filled

Commenting on the Statement, Consensus Statement co-chair, Dr Kathryn Schneider of the University of Calgary, Canada, says: “This Statement sets out a range of new evidence-based recommendations, including those for concussion prevention as well as new versions of the concussion assessment tools and return to sport and school/learning strategies.” 

“We encourage clinicians and sports organizations around the globe to adapt these recommendations to their own geographic and cultural environments to optimize the care of athletes who have sustained, or who are at risk of, concussion,” she adds.

“The differentiating aspects of this latest Concussion Consensus are the rigorous methodological process we adopted, the new generation of tools available to clinicians, and the emphasis on the positive impact of exercise and targeted rehabilitation as effective interventions,” explains Consensus Statement co-chair, Professor Jon Patricios of Wits University, Johannesburg, South Africa.

“These have the potential to positively change the management of sport-related concussion.”

Follow the links below for more information.

Academy of Medical Sciences press release labeling system
http://press.psprings.co.uk/AMSlabels.pdf 

Journal article
https://bjsm.bmj.com/lookup/doi/10.1136/bjsports-2023-106898

Video abstract
https://we.tl/t-ZF4KGU7HLS

Podcast
https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-8ndyt-142d3e8

Complete issue
https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/57/11
https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/57/12

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