(Montreal) Athletes who have already suffered a concussion then seem less likely to report the symptoms of a new injury, researchers at the University of Montreal have found, unless the second concussion seems more serious than the first.
Most athletes interviewed for this study said they consider a concussion “serious” if the symptoms are obvious, impossible to hide, or interfere with their daily life.
“I don’t know if they are ‘trivializing,’ but they are more confident that they can take care of themselves,” said the study’s author, researcher William Archambault, to explain the young people’s decision. athletes to hide a new concussion. Maybe they are less afraid too. »
There is less hesitation to report a first concussion, he added, in particular because of the numerous campaigns which have made young people aware of the dangers of such an injury.
Concussion management protocols, however, often provide that the young person will be absent from his sport for two or three weeks, perhaps even longer, even if the symptoms have resolved – at least apparently – after seven or ten days.
A young athlete who finds himself in this situation may therefore have the reflex to say to himself “I have been doing well for two weeks and they are still preventing me from playing”, underlined Mr. Archambault.
“They do sort of a cost-benefit analysis,” he said. They say to themselves, “Next time, I will manage myself for a week and I will be able to return to the game faster”. »
Each athlete will react differently to a concussion, hence the importance of knowing the individual well to be able to personalize the approach if we know that we are in the presence of a young person who, after violent physical contact, may have a greater tendency than others to camouflage their symptoms, said Mr. Archambault.
We could also consider not leaving the decision in the hands of the young person by announcing, for example, that all those suspected of having suffered a concussion, even if they show no symptoms, will be automatically removed from the game. during one week.
“If it’s the referee or the coach who takes you out, then you don’t have to think,” explained Mr. Archambault. We must protect young people from themselves. »
Mr. Archambault was put on the trail of this doctoral thesis by a survey on concussions carried out by McGill researchers among Canadian Football League players.
Eight out of ten participants in this survey admitted to hiding a concussion during their career. They then chose from the fifteen reasons presented to explain this decision. Mr. Archambault, however, noticed that no one had checked “Other”.
Since it was unlikely that the 15 or so choices represented all possible explanations, he decided to explore the issue further by meeting virtually with young athletes during the pandemic.
“We were able to go deeper into the athletes’ decision-making process,” he said. For example, I asked them how the context of their second concussion was different from the first. »
Bottom line: If an athlete has had a previous concussion, it puts them at greater risk of not disclosing the next one, “which is perhaps a little counterintuitive.”
Mr. Archambault interviewed soccer, rugby and cheerleading athletes for his study, which allowed him to observe that the latter have a different attitude from others towards concussions.
“If a soccer player has a concussion, we put him on the bench and replace him with someone else,” he said. But for cheerleading, it’s a choreography in front of a jury, and if a member of the team has a concussion, you can’t just replace them because they spent almost the whole year learning their routine together. »
These athletes, added Mr. Archambault, said they felt “the weight” not only of their desire to participate, but also “the pressure” of not letting their teammates down and not penalizing their team.
The same goes for any other injuries they may sustain, not just concussions.
“It opened my eyes. I had never thought about that perspective, he admitted. So clearly, there are aspects of the rules or the way the sport is played that put athletes under too much pressure not to admit their injuries. »
The findings of this study were published by the medical journal Neurotrauma Reports.
