head injuries

[Tony Manx]

oh course, don't get me wrong, it's more that i find the fact they focus on a negative (Concussions are up) rather than the positives (Reporting is up highlighting the excellent work being done in concussion awarness right through the levels).

If that makes sense... it could be a really positive story for the sport instead it's a horror story.

Negative is what sells papers..,,,says a lot about their readership!!

 

[RedruthRFC]

Whatever the spin on these articles about concussion and the possible agenda behind them, I'm glad to see them. It seems that media pressure is all that will force World Rugby to deal with this longstanding problem satisfactorily.

I agree with the comments about the lower level game being more vulnerable than higher levels. I've seem incidents in semi professional rugby in England that would have had the press calling for medical professionals to lose their licence to practice and coaches and officials to lose their office if they happened in a high profile televised game. Unfortunately due to a lack of decent journalists locally and there being no feedback mechanism in place, nothing came off them.

 

[goodNumber10]

Whatever the spin on these articles about concussion and the possible agenda behind them, I'm glad to see them. It seems that media pressure is all that will force World Rugby to deal with this longstanding problem satisfactorily.

I agree with the comments about the lower level game being more vulnerable than higher levels. I've seem incidents in semi professional rugby in England that would have had the press calling for medical professionals to lose their licence to practice and coaches and officials to lose their office if they happened in a high profile televised game. Unfortunately due to a lack of decent journalists locally and there being no feedback mechanism in place, nothing came off them.

true no press is bad press as such, especially with things like this.

 

[dasNdanger]

Not really.

Helmets of any kind won't do **** for concussion.

Short of not doing anything that makes your head travel at speed, there isn't much you can do to stop it.

Yeah. A lot of people think that a concussion is simply due to the impact, therefore they think extra padding is the answer. Padding only protects the surface from bruising or bleeding, it does nothing to stop the brain from bouncing around inside the skull.

I hear that the NFL is looking into helmets designed for combat that absorb most of the impact to the head, keeping the brain more stable. But that doesn't help rugby at all. The only thing (apart from avoiding head knocks altogether) that I can see possibly helping is improving neck strength to prevent the head from whipping around on impact. Of course, that doesn't help with direct head-to-*name the body part* contact.

Bottom line for me is this - better strength training and better tackling training is really the only thing that may - MAY - help. Resting concussed players and rotating more players so that the same guys aren't constantly being exposed to head injuries can't hurt either. Otherwise you're dealing with a full-contact sport where head injuries are inevitable, so either play with that in mind, or don't play at all.


das

 

[ratsapprentice]

Bottom line for me is this - better strength training and better tackling training is really the only thing that may - MAY - help. Resting concussed players and rotating more players so that the same guys aren't constantly being exposed to head injuries can't hurt either. Otherwise you're dealing with a full-contact sport where head injuries are inevitable, so either play with that in mind, or don't play at all.

I couldn't agree more.

 

[Feicarsinn]

Concussion is the current media bandwagon, ride it out... there is no point in getting wound up about it.

Disagree very strongly.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Disagree very strongly.

"...there is no point in getting wound up about...the media bandwagon"

 

[Muse_Cubed]

Concussion is the current media bandwagon, ride it out... there is no point in getting wound up about it.

Junior Seau would dislike this if he were still alive.

 

[ratsapprentice]

You're right, his cognitive impairment issues would probably have caused him to misinterpret my comment too...

 

[Feicarsinn]

You should write more clearly.

 

[ratsapprentice]

You should read posts and their contexts more carefully.

 

[Feicarsinn]

I can have you killed.

 

[ratsapprentice]

I'll have you knocked out with a donkey punch on a crowded Dublin street.

 

[Shaggy]

I'd say public pressure from the mums and dads is probably the only way that the rules will change and be adhered to, TBH

Scrum rule changes and the negating of true rucking both were as a result of concerns and pressure from concerned parents, who wouldn't let their children play due to the risks of injury ... the only other way I can see is financial pressure/high insurance premiums if guide lines aren't stringent and adhered to.

 

[Amiga500]

To me - the main source of concussion is impact tackles taken head on involving at least one large player. With defensive systems as they are, there is no space on the field, leading to "truck it up the middle" tactics and the obvious results.


How about this for off-the-wall solution. Drop the teams to 14 a side*, removing the 2nd centre. More space in the backfield means more space to attack, leading to a greater chance of side on tackles rather than the crash-ball 12 we see now.


*The better solution (as far as the sport in isolation is concerned) would be widening the pitches, but that has obvious limitations when stadia are sized for the existing dimensions. Therefore the alternative of removing a player is suggested.

 

[ratsapprentice]

I completely agree on widening the pitches and the obvious difficulty of doing so - I don't see why it can't be done where the venue allows it though!
Having an extra 2-3m would have a pretty substantial effect on the game IMO.

 

[RedruthRFC]

I completely agree on widening the pitches and the obvious difficulty of doing so - I don't see why it can't be done where the venue allows it though!
Having an extra 2-3m would have a pretty substantial effect on the game IMO.

There's significant variation of pitch widths as it is, so it would be easy enough to establish a correlation if one exists.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Finding an accurate list of all the premiership pitch dimensions would be difficult, however.

 

[RedruthRFC]

Finding an accurate list of all the premiership pitch dimensions would be difficult, however.

Hardly a big stumbling block. If there is a stumbling block it would be obtaining a statistically significant sample size of relably recorded concussions.

 

[Perthshire]

compulsary scrum caps ?

discuss

No as it will not completely eradicate the problem