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- Title
RECOVERY AFTER A SPORTS-RELATED CONCUSSION: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF ADOLESCENT RUGBY UNION PLAYERS IN NORTHERN IRELAND.
- Authors
McKee, Connor; Matthews, Mark; Rankin, Alan; Bleakley, Chris
- Abstract
Introduction: Adolescent athletes who sustain a sports-related concussion may experience a prolonged recovery period.1 Evidence suggests female athletes and those with a history of previous concussion may have an extended recovery period, spanning multiple weeks to months.2 Objectives: To track recovery from a concussion across patient-reported measures and determine the time taken to return to pre-injury levels in adolescent rugby union players. Study design: A longitudinal study was utilised across a single rugby union playing season (2022-23). Ethical approval was granted from Ulster University Research Ethics Committee Methods: Male and female rugby union players were recruited from nine school and club rugby teams across Northern Ireland. To be eligible, participants had 16-18years of age, injury free and currently playing at First XV level. Participants completed demographic and established questionnaires including Post-Concussion Symptom Scale (PCSS), Concussion Clinical Profiling (CP), Paediatric Fear Avoidance Behaviour after Traumatic Brain Injury (PFAB-TBI), General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ). Those who sustained a concussion were re-assessed at 3, 7, 14, 23, 90 and 180days post-event. Recovery was defined as questionnaire score at pre-injury level. Primary outcome measure with Post-Concussion Symptom Scale. Results: Of the 149 participants (113M (76%); 36F (24%)), 11 (7%) sustained a concussion during the season (9M: 2F), of which four had a previous history of concussion (2M: 2F). PCSS and PFAB-TBI took the longest time to return to baseline scores. Statistically significant differences in survival distribution (Chi-square 9.27 (df=4) p<0.05) across self-reported outcomes; pairwise comparisons show the largest differences in survival distribution were seen between PCSS and GAD (p=0.02) and PCSS and PHQ (p<0.04). Conclusions: Adolescent male and female rugby union players experienced prolonged post-concussive symptoms based on self-reported measures. Further research on male and female adolescent athletes is needed to track re- covery across various clinical measures.
- Subjects
IRELAND; NORWAY; NORTHERN Ireland; TREATMENT duration; CONFERENCES &; conventions; SPORTS re-entry; CONVALESCENCE; HEALTH outcome assessment; RUGBY football injuries; BRAIN concussion; ADOLESCENCE
- Publication
International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, 2024, Vol 19, Issue 6, p775
- ISSN
2159-2896
- Publication type
Article