Concussion

Concussion must be taken really seriously. Someone might just be unconscious for a few minutes or seconds, but we don't know what's going on in that brain. The danger of them carrying on with football or rugby, or the activity they've been taking part in, is if they get concussed again. That second injury can cause real serious problems, leading to a lifelong disability. It's so important that if we think someone's concussed, they take time out. And that could be they sit out the rest of the match, or, in fact, they don't have contact sports for at least another fortnight, giving that brain time to repair itself. If you've broken your leg, you wouldn't then go and do another activity, which might mean you break the leg in another place. We need to take the same caution with the brain. It needs that time to heal itself and to repair. A second concussion is really, really serious.

So much more in young people. If they are concussed, their brain is still developing, it's still maturing. If they're concussed and have a second concussion, it could mean that actually, they halt at that age. So, if someone has a brain injury at 12 or 13, even when they're in their 50s, they'll behave like a 12 or 13-year-old. How sad that is, if all they had to do was sit out from that game of rugby or football for 40 minutes, to give their brain time to recover. Lifetime disability can be caused by concussion, so important that someone takes it seriously and sits out. The person themselves may say they're fine and don't want to go to a hospital, but they cannot see what's going on in their own brain. Needs to go to a hospital, needs to have that CAT scan, so doctors can see what's going on inside the brain, whether there's bleeds or swelling that needs urgent medical attention.