Sports Concussion - Health Implications

While Ireland beat the New Zealand rugby team for the first time in 111 years, last Saturday evening at Soldier Field, Chicago. The famous All Blacks team was without one of their star players, Brodie Retallick due to the impacts of concussion, received during a previous game.

'Former World Player of the Year, Brodie Retallick has returned to the New Zealand squad as the specialist lock replacement, after he missed last week's match in Chicago, USA with concussion.'

 

The BMJ journal provides an article on Concussion in Sport, taken from their issue of 25th September 2013 -

http://www.bmj.com/content/347/bmj.f5748

 Players with symptoms and signs of concussion, should not continue or return to play, until these resolve.

 

The diagnosis of concussion and some aspects of its management remain contentious, particularly in the context of continuing to play sport and return to play after concussion. The latest Zurich consensus statement on concussion in sport addresses some of these problems and variations in the definition, clinical assessment, and management of concussion.

Definitions of concussion vary and include mechanistic, pathophysiological, and clinical features. These complex definitions are necessary for research but have little practical use for most clinicians, including those “pitch or track side.” A more pragmatic definition of a “traumatically induced, usually transient, disturbance of brain function that involves complex pathophysiological processes” is a diagnosis made in retrospect and provides little help with early clinical decision making.

Theme Parks - Safety Inquiry

The Health and Safety Authority is due at Tayto Park following an accident at a Halloween attraction, in which nine people were injured.

The incidents at Tayto Park in Ashbourne, County Meath happened when a staircase collapsed during an after-dark, Halloween-themed event and the more recent fatal incident at an Australian theme park.



Gardaí were called to the park shortly after 8.00pm. A garda spokesman confirmed that nine people were taken to hospital.
Most sustained cuts and bruises but one person is understood to have fractured a bone. All nine people have been discharged from hospital.
A spokeswoman for the park said those caught up in the incident were taken to hospital as a "precautionary measure".
This morning, the park said the lower portion of a permanent staircase leading to the 'House of Horrors' attraction gave way.
It added: "The management of Tayto Park will co-operate fully with the investigation as the safety of our guests is paramount."