In the sport of Footy there are often collisions and hits that elicit concussive episodes, recently a player in the AFL received his third concussion in merely five weeks. The case of Kurt Tippett will be one Australia and the world will be watching;
Kurt Tippett’s immediate playing future is set to become a test case for the AFL’s treatment of concussion injuries.
The Crows have rested Tippett from Saturday’s game against the Cats in Geelong after the Adelaide forward suffered his third concussion in five weeks in the round-17 clash with West Coast on July 21.
Adelaide have been working closely with AFL Medical Officers’ Association boss Hugh Seward and AFL medical director Peter Harcourt.
Tippett is also likely to be rested for a second match.
However Nine’s The Footy Show said on Thursday night that senior medical figures around Melbourne were expected to advise the AFL that Tippett should not play again this season.
Tippett on Thursday underwent a series of scans which will be analysed in the coming days, the program said.
Unless there is a structural problem the likelihood that there is anything on a scan is minimal. The simple fact should be Tippett needs to rest and recover, longer than a week.
I will have more on this later, (post forth coming with radio interview) but something else Joel Selwood said in the article that caught my eye;
“It’s a huge issue and the AFLPA (AFL Players’ Association) are doing a great job with the AFL to try to get to the bottom of it.
“But we’re not the NFL. We can’t use those statistics over here because we don’t play the same sport.
Joel is right they are different sports, but, a brain injury is a brain injury indiscriminate of type of activity. Maybe you cannot use the stats of injury rate, but recovery and proper management should be adhered to no matter the sport. Selwood should be encouraging the AFLPA and it’s medicos to catch up on the latest information.
The Concussion Blog 