Reimagining sports-related concussion recovery through Etuaptmumk: Learning from indigenous women's experiences

Sports-related concussion (SRC) management has become increasingly governed by Western biomedical approaches that prioritize symptom resolution, standardized protocols, and medical expertise. While these approaches have advanced athlete safety, little attention has been paid to how Indigenous athletes experience concussion recovery or how dominant biomedical models align with Indigenous understandings of health and healing. Drawing on qualitative interviews and arts-based research with three Indigenous women hockey players in Canada, this article explores how they experienced SRC recovery and what their experiences reveal about contemporary concussion management. Guided by embodiment, settler colonialism as a structural determinant of Indigenous health, and the Mi’kmaq concept of Etuaptmumk (Two-Eyed Seeing), the analysis demonstrates how biomedical concussion protocols can unintentionally constrain autonomy, disrupt relationships, and overlook the broader emotional, relational, and embodied dimensions of healing. Participants’ narratives highlight experiences of isolation, disorientation, and diminished agency while also illustrating the importance of self-determination, relationality, community, and Land during recovery. Rather than rejecting biomedical concussion care, this article argues that Etuaptmumk provides a framework for bringing biomedical expertise into conversation with Indigenous understandings of health and healing. In doing so, it demonstrates how concussion recovery can be reimagined in ways that protect the injured brain while also supporting the whole person. This article contributes to concussion scholarship by positioning Indigenous women's experiences not simply as critiques of existing care, but as offering important insights for strengthening concussion recovery for Indigenous and non-Indigenous athletes alike.