The world-class SA Rugby BokSmart National Rugby Safety Programme took centre stage at a gathering of medical professionals, sports scientists, rugby coaches, insurers and reinsurers at a recent Concussion Workshop held at Hollard’s Villa Arcadia in Johannesburg.

The workshop, organised by Hollard Group Risk and MyPlayers, who represent South Africa’s professional rugby players, was convened to further advance broad-based engagement on the issue of concussion management in South African professional rugby.

Speaking at the event, Clint Readhead, General Manager Medical at SARU, reiterated SARU’s commitment to ensuring that concussion management remains a focus at all levels of the game, as he described the remarkable growth, development and changes to the rugby safety landscape achieved by the BokSmart Programme since its inception in 2009. He went on to discuss the comprehensive training provided by SA Rugby to professional team and match-day medical doctors before they are certified to operate pitchside. He also elaborated on the strict implementation and adherence to head injury and concussion management protocols within the professional game.

Isma-eel Dollie, recently appointed head of Player Affairs at MyPlayers, described how insight-driven changes and improvements to player welfare, load management and rest agreements were enabled by recent progress in better understanding the nature and effects of concussion. He highlighted the importance of continued structured support for South Africa’s rugby players.

Christine Odendaal, Head of Strategic Pricing and Product at Hollard Group Risk, emphasised the role that Hollard Group Risk’s income protection product plays in ensuring a continuous income for professional rugby players during times of injury. She went on to demonstrate the financial impact of measures such as better concussion management.

Dr. Jon Patricios, Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand and leader of the Wits Sport and Health (WiSH) Research Group and Co-chair of the scientific committee for the International Consensus Conference on Concussion in Sport, reminded attendees of the neurological effects of concussion, by describing how a complex causal loop of factors influences a person’s response and recovery from head injury, at both an individual and social/environmental level. This has influenced the work of the Concussion in Sports Group, an international, multi-disciplinary research initiative charged with recommending best practice in concussion management.

In updating delegates about the work of the Group, Patricios highlighted progress in development of practical tools to improve taking the initial concussion evaluation further (the so-called “office evaluation” stage), as well as significant advances made in rehabilitation practices. “We now recognise concussion as a treatable injury and we can provide athletes with exercises and interactions that allow networks in the brain to re-establish themselves in a particular way”, Patricios said. He also paid tribute to the BokSmart programme in getting practical information to where it is needed most – at the side of every rugby field in South Africa.

Patricios mentioned the increasing role of technology in helping understand concussion, a theme that was picked up by Dr Ross Tucker, arguably South Africa’s best-known sports scientist. Tucker described the exciting data emerging from instrumented mouth guards (iMGs). He said “iMGs have enabled us to better understand the nature of various head impacts that occur during contact sport, and to eventually track to what appears to be an association between multiple sub-concussive head injuries and the onset of concussion. As the use of iMGs grow, we aim to understand what the cumulative effect of such impacts are, so that we’ll potentially be able to predict, and perhaps even prevent, concussion.”

Speaking after the event, Elna van Wyk, Chief Operating Officer for Hollard Group Risk, highlighted the critical role of such workshops. “As an insurer, we are acutely aware of the importance of risk management. A better understanding of concussion management and how the player recovers, both in the short- and longer-term, has an immense impact on insurance claims and premiums, and improving these outcomes improves the financial picture for everyone”

By involving all stakeholders, from players, to management, to medical professionals, to scientists and our reinsurers in such discussions, we’re creating a virtuous circle, ultimately leading to better outcomes for individual players and the long-term health of rugby as a sport”, she concludes.