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12 • Touchline • Issue 18
Hans Westerbeek:
Gentlemen, welcome.
Given the complexity of the subject matter, I would like to ask Ryan to give us
a brief introduction into the issues and complexities of concussion in the most
generic sense of the word and the issue.
Ryan Kohler:
Thanks Hans. Ladies and gentlemen – the key statement from me
is that any head injury that results in a disturbance of brain function is a serious
injury.
Concussion in sport is a serious injury. The fact that we can’t see any physical
sign of damage does not in any way detract from that. I think we often just rely
on physical science to determine severity and with concussion this is not the
case. To set the scene, let’s focus on three things.
Firstly, let’s look at the 2010 Exercise, Recreation and Sports survey which
highlighted that there are 3.6 million sportspersons playing regular organised
sport across Australia. The highest numbers are in soccer approaching 960,000
followed quite closely by AFL, basketball and netball. The probability that a
soccer player is concussed in a season is 1.8%. On the other end of the spectrum,
if someone is involved in boxing or equestrian sport the probability is a lot
higher – 39% and 37% respectively.
So do we just say “well, we don’t really need to worry about soccer”, but clearly
the absolute numbers are significant when we factor in 1.8% of 960,000. When
BOSS 2014:
BUSINESS OF SPORT SUMMIT
FOCUS ON CONCUSSION
TACKLING CONCUSSION
STRATEGIES TOMINIMISE THE RISK OF HEAD INJURIES
The 2014 Business of Sport
Summit in Sydney held a panel
discussion regarding the issue of
concussion in sport. An excerpt
of the discussion is printed here.
The full discussion, including
questions from the audience, is
available on YouTube.
Members of the panel included:
Chair:
Professor Hans Westerbeek
Panel:
Professor Ryan Kohler
Elton Flatley, former Australian
international rugby union
footballer
David Lamb, Sportscover
Australia CEO