If in doubt, sit them out (guideline)

Developed in

Background[]

This article is a stub. You can help A for Athlete by expanding it.

Part of UK / United Kingdom (also known as GBR) .

Open Water Swimming Water Temp Scale[]

Wild_Swimming_-_Water_Temperature — Wild Swimming - Water Temperature

Calum often gets asked how cold the water is when he's wild swimming. In this video he's come up with this handy water temperature guide to describe what baltic really feels like. Calum's latest in his brilliant series on Wild Swimming in Scotland. You can see the full series playlist at http://bbc.in/26M2xAb Tumblr: http://www.bbcthesocial.co.uk Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bbcthesocial Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bbcthesocial Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/bbcthesocial Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/bbcthesocial Vine: http://bbc.in/24jI3QG Snapchat: bbcthesocial

Articles[]

Insights[]

The following guidance is intended to provide information on how to recognise sports concussion and on how sports concussion should be managed from the time of injury through to safe return to play.

This information is intended for the general public and for grassroots sports participants where specialists in Sports and Exercise Medicine are not available to manage concussed athletes.

At all levels in all sports, if an athlete is suspected of having a concussion, they must be immediately removed from play. If in doubt, sit them out.

Any player with a second concussion within 12 months, a history of multiple concussions, players with unusual symptoms or prolonged recovery should be assessed and managed by health care providers (multidisciplinary) with experience in sports-related concussions.

This guidance has been endorsed by the Scottish Rugby Union, Scottish Football Association, Scottish Sports Association, and The Camanachd Association.

Links to the guidlines content on this wiki in PDFs:[]

Details[]

Scotland made a world-leading step with a May 2015 release of guidelines for dealing with concussions across all grassroots sport.

Neuropathologist, Dr Willie Stewart insists the work to roll out such measures throughout Britain — and the rest of the world — is only just beginning. Dr Stewart has been at the forefront of pulling all sides together and gaining universal approval of a standardized set of concussion recommendations which cover every sport — from rugby to table tennis. They give clear advice on how to recognize and manage the condition effectively, following the latest World Rugby guidelines.

‘I’m absolutely overwhelmed with the support and the way this has progressed in Scotland,’ he said. ‘The vast majority of people participating in sport do so at grassroots and amateur level with no medical support, no sports medicine-trained people or video cameras recording every incident. So what they really needed was something safe, a simple message which applies across every single sport.

‘We were at the Westminster committee last year where the paper called for one single, simple message on concussion in sport.

‘We had the Irish government and the committee last autumn calling for one single, simple message on concussion in sport and here we are in Scotland delivering one single, simple message covering every sport.

‘I think it’s a huge achievement. Someone was asking me: “Is this closure? Is this completion? Have we got what we were looking for?”. We’re just beginning to get what we were looking for. What we now need to see is Westminster, Irish, Welsh and all the other governments taking this simple message on.’

The If in doubt, sit them out (guideline) was produced and endorsed by a collaboration between the Scottish Government, Sportscotland Institute of Sport, senior medics from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Glasgow, Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, the SFA and Scottish Rugby.

‘My feeling is that we’ve demonstrated that all sports can come together in a simple message and it doesn’t stop people participating in sport.

‘If anything, it’s encouraging them to go and participate safely. Our hope is that now we see this picked up in all these other regions, and that what we’ve set it in motion, it will be picked up across the world.’

It’s undoubtedly true now that the awareness of concussion — that it’s not a condition to be taken lightly or dismissed — is rapidly on the rise.

Wales rugby star George North hit the ground face first after taking a blow to the head during the Six Nations contest with England (also known as GBR) in 2015 could deny it is an increasingly important issue. And while North’s injury was far from good news for the man himself, incidents such as that — or Germany (also known as GER) ’s Christoph Kramer struggling during last year’s World Cup Final — are helping the public to see the bigger picture.

‘I’d say there has been a remarkable change,’ added Stewart. ‘If you go back several Six Nations, I don’t think those incidents would have created much interest at all. The commentators might have said: “Oh, he’s a bit dinged but he’ll be OK in a minute or two”.

‘You fast forward to this Six Nations and each of those incidents created uproar.

‘At the (North) incident, the commentators were saying: “This is incredible, why is he still on the park?”.

‘Afterwards, the post-match discussion was not just about the game but also about how the injuries were handled.

‘I feel for the guys pitchside because they are the last people that can see what’s happening. They don’t have the multiple camera angles, eight million sets of eyes feeding back on them or the comfort of a TV booth to look at it. They can’t see what we see.

‘So, in a sense, whilst those incidents weren’t ideal, they took the conversation forward a lot and gave us reassurance that we were getting somewhere.

‘The commentators, the press, social media lit up with: “This wasn’t right” and the game then looked at: “Well, it wasn’t right, how can we change it?”.’

As the Rugby World Cup fast approaches, the scrutiny on the game to get things right will be huge. Dr Stewart, however, has few concerns in that regard.

‘I have every confidence that every single medical personnel, coaching personnel, every player is going to be drilled on what must happen with concussion,’ he said. ‘They will be hyper vigilant to the slightest suggestion that somebody might be injured.

‘I don’t think rugby wants to meet a global audience with mismanaged concussion.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-3094629/Sporting-world-follow-Scotland-s-lead-new-guidelines-concussion.html#ixzz3bBMxsR4r Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook