Concussion in sport – What do we know, and what’s next?

Abstract

This paper presents shortened versions of talks given at a symposium about concussion in sport. The piece is designed, in similar lines as the event, to help communicate knowledge and ideas between academics in multiple disciplines, communities of practice and to develop public and patient involvement. The seven short essays are presented in the style of a conference proceedings paper. Each author presents their own focus, with one paper drawing on lived experiences and activism, three taking a biomedical approach and the remaining three drawing on social scientific analysis and literature. We have developed this paper to provide readers with a concise, but not complete, understanding of different topics related to concussion and brain injuries in sport. The limitations of space means that the authors have had to reduce the complexity of some ongoing debates on the topic. The final section is based on the comments and discussions that happened during and after the symposium. It offers some important takeaways and encourages scholars working in this area to prioritize multi-disciplinary research, and highlights the importance of centering the experiences and lives of those people affected by concussions and neurological disorders in the development and delivery of future work. It is hoped that communicating ideas in this way will encourage such ways of thinking as a means of tackling the complex set of problems that face those involved in sports where repeated forceful impact is a normalized 'part of the game'.