Studying Contact Replays: Investigating Mechanisms, Management and Game Exposures (SCRIMMAGE) for brain health in the Australasian National Rugby League: a protocol for a database design

Concussions in contact sports are challenging for athletes, health professionals and sporting bodies to prevent, detect and manage. Design of interventions for primary prevention, early recognition of concussion and continuing to improve postconcussion management are essential for protecting athletes and promoting brain health. Over the last decade, there have been advancements in video technology for analysing head impact events and improvements in the clinical management of concussions. This study protocol describes how researchers, clinicians and staff from the Australasian National Rugby League (NRL) have brought these advancements together and developed a database of videos with head impact events and clinical outcomes. The intended outputs from this work will enhance the understanding of head impact events in NRL, from biomechanical and gameplay factors to concussion and return to play outcomes. Publishing this protocol increases the transparency of this large-scale effort to better identify head impacts and their relationship to concussions and player movement behaviour to contextualise these variables to generate new knowledge and support the reproducibility of these emerging findings. Between 2017 and 2023, over 5250 head contact cases were recorded in the database, from which >1700 head injury assessments were performed, and >600 concussions were diagnosed. Future studies using these data are planned to inform both primary and secondary injury prevention initiatives, such as risk analysis and prediction of game scenarios that result in concussion, as well as investigation of features and factors that help to inform the duration of recovery and return to play.

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Publication Details

Journal
BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine
Published
2024-10-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjsem-2024-002216
Citations
5
Primary Topic
Traumatic Brain Injury Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.93

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article

Studying Contact Replays: Investigating Mechanisms, Management and Game Exposures (SCRIMMAGE) for brain health in the Australasian National Rugby League: a protocol for a database design

Ross Tucker, Warren McDonald, Lauren V. Fortington, Oliver J. Smith et al.
5 citations
BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine
Traumatic Brain Injury Research
1.93
article

Studying Contact Replays: Investigating Mechanisms, Management and Game Exposures (SCRIMMAGE) for brain health in the Australasian National Rugby League: a protocol for a database design

Ross Tucker, Warren McDonald, Lauren V. Fortington, Oliver J. Smith, Clint Thomson, Peter Stanwell, Christopher Levi, Gordon Fuller, P. Jhala, Grant L. Iverson, Sharron Flahive, Paul Bloomfield, Kenneth L. Quarrie, Shreya McLeod, Timana Tahu, Andrew John Gardner, Douglas P. Terry, Mazdak Ghajari, Suzi Edwards, James Craig Brown, Cameron Owen, Ben Jones, Daniel Tadmor, Georgia Page
article en
5 citations

Abstract

Concussions in contact sports are challenging for athletes, health professionals and sporting bodies to prevent, detect and manage. Design of interventions for primary prevention, early recognition of concussion and continuing to improve postconcussion management are essential for protecting athletes and promoting brain health. Over the last decade, there have been advancements in video technology for analysing head impact events and improvements in the clinical management of concussions. This study protocol describes how researchers, clinicians and staff from the Australasian National Rugby League (NRL) have brought these advancements together and developed a database of videos with head impact events and clinical outcomes. The intended outputs from this work will enhance the understanding of head impact events in NRL, from biomechanical and gameplay factors to concussion and return to play outcomes. Publishing this protocol increases the transparency of this large-scale effort to better identify head impacts and their relationship to concussions and player movement behaviour to contextualise these variables to generate new knowledge and support the reproducibility of these emerging findings. Between 2017 and 2023, over 5250 head contact cases were recorded in the database, from which >1700 head injury assessments were performed, and >600 concussions were diagnosed. Future studies using these data are planned to inform both primary and secondary injury prevention initiatives, such as risk analysis and prediction of game scenarios that result in concussion, as well as investigation of features and factors that help to inform the duration of recovery and return to play.

BMJ Open Sport & Exercise MedicineVol. 10(4)
Edith Cowan University (AU), The University of Sydney (AU), Harvard University (US), University of Auckland (NZ), University of Cape Town (ZA), Stellenbosch University (ZA), The Football Association (GB), Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital (US), Australian Football League (AU), Manly Hospital (AU), Auckland University of Technology (NZ), Massachusetts General Hospital (US), Dyson (United Kingdom) (GB), Sports Concussion Institute (US), Hunter New England Local Health District (AU), Sports Science Institute of South Africa (ZA), Imperial College London (GB), University of Newcastle Australia (AU), Leeds Beckett University (GB), Australian Catholic University (AU), Vanderbilt University Medical Center (US), University of Sheffield (GB)
State Government of Victoria, Australian Institute of Sport, Medical Research Council, National Health and Medical Research Council
Good health and well-being
Openalex Percentile: Top 13%
Traumatic Brain Injury Research
1.93
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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