On Wednesday 25 November Sports Medicine Australia held a live webinar on concussion in sport presented by world renowned concussion expert and Associate Professor Andrew Gardner in collaboration with the NSW Office of Sport, Sport and Recreation ACT, Tasmanian Government, WA Department of Local Government Sport and Cultural Industries and the Northern Territory  Government.

Over 233 people tuned into SMA’s webinar, eager to learn about the ins and outs of concussion in sport.

Andrew covered many different aspects of recognising concussion in athletes, from identifying signs and symptoms to recovery management and return to play or life.

A major part of Andrew’s presentation was about the three R’s – recognise, remove, refer, and that no two cases of concussion are the same. While we may think we will know it when we see it, identifying concussion is not as obvious as an athlete ‘seeing stars’ or loss of consciousness, the brain is a very intricate and complex structure and we cannot always predict it’s reaction to injury.

Each individual requires their own recovery strategy with support from a medical practitioner, coaches and peers.

In addition to his presentation, Andrew gave real life examples of concussion in games and conducted an interactive quiz with the audience to implement the principles shown throughout the webinar.

162 questions were asked about concussion in sport, signs, symptoms and its prevalence within the sporting world. Questions from the audience produced an insightful discussion where Andrew was able to give detailed advice to those who required it.

Andrew went above and beyond to make sure all the audience questions were answered, with the webinar going for just under two hours.

Overall, Associate Professor Andrew Gardner’s presentation gave a thorough understanding of what concussion can look like and how to practically respond to it if a case should arise.

If in doubt, sit them out.