In 1823, William Webb Ellis first picked up the ball in his arms and ran with it. And for the next 156 years forwards have been trying to work out why. - Tasker Watkins VC, LJ.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

IRB Concussion Guidelines - updated

To give credit where deserved, the IRB appear to be listening on the topic of concussion. When commenting on the new training modules on their player welfare website, I (and others) pointed out it seemed daft to have them behind a registration wall when the aim was to have them easily available to everyone.

Well, they're not any longer. There is now a proper concussion management page on the IRB website. You can see it HERE. It's open to everyone, it's excellent, and it's something I'd recommend as a concussion management structure to anyone involved in any sport who wants to help reduce their exposure and prevent injury to players.

Finally, it looks like this is being dealt with properly by the IRB. There will probably be slips and relapses, but the trend is all in the right direction.

It is a good day's work by the Medical Officers and it deserves to be recognised as such.

Update on the update (with the admitted risk of getting recursive): I've been told by people to whom I've recommended this that they have had to register. It may be that the IRB site recognises cookies and logs you in automatically. If it is, I would still recommend the concussion management to anyone in any sport, but I would strongly encourage the IRB to make it available without registration. The easier to access and use in a hurry, the more likely it is people will do the right thing pitch-side.

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