From sporting fields to city streets: brain injury experts call for national action

Key Facts:

Venue: Aerial Function Centre, Level 7, University of Technology Sydney Interviews: Dr Mukesh Haikerwal AC and concussion session speakers available around 11.30am. Other speaker interviews by arrangement, subject to availability.

Concussion in children and athletes and brain injuries involving e-scooters and e-bikes will be in the spotlight in Sydney today, alongside a call to put brain health firmly on the national health agenda.

The Brain Injury Australia Health Symposium at the University of Technology Sydney brings together clinicians, researchers and people with lived experience to examine how Australians can be better protected from brain injury and supported when it happens.

Brain Injury Australia Acting Chief Executive Officer and former Australian Medical Association President Dr Mukesh Haikerwal AC said sporting concussion and e-scooter injuries raised urgent questions about prevention, treatment and ongoing care.

“Whether it’s a child playing weekend sport or someone riding an e-scooter, we need to ask how we can prevent an injury, recognise when someone needs help and get them the right care,” Dr Haikerwal said.

“But the response cannot stop when someone leaves the emergency department. We also need to look at what happens when they go home and try to get back to school, work and everyday life.”

The symposium will examine protecting athletes’ brain health during and beyond sport, alongside the latest understanding of concussion in children and young people.

Australian Institute of Sport Chief Medical Officer Dr David Hughes AM will contribute a national sporting perspective, while a presentation on the Australian Sports Brain Bank’s work will explore its implications for understanding brain injury.

A session on injuries involving e-scooters and e-bikes will take the discussion beyond the sporting field, putting brain injury risks on city streets, and the consequences for individuals, families and health services, in focus.

The broader program explores emergency care, rehabilitation and life after brain injury, including returning to employment and participating in the community.

Dr Haikerwal said the attention surrounding sporting concussion and e-scooter injuries needed to translate into sustained national action.

“Brain health needs a clear place on the national health agenda, with the same focus on prevention, coordinated care and long-term support that we expect for other major health conditions,” he said.

“We need a national strategy that connects those pieces, from reducing the risk of injury through to rehabilitation and support at school, at work and in the community.

“For people living with brain injury and their families, the test is whether they can get the care and support they need, wherever they live.”

Dr Mukesh Haikerwal AC and other speakers will be available to speak with media around 11.30am. Speakers at the symposium include:

• Dr David Hughes AM, Chief Medical Officer, Australian Institute of Sport – athlete brain health during and beyond sport.
• Dr Sarah Whitelaw, emergency physician, Royal Melbourne Hospital.
• Adjunct Professor Sheryl Batchelor, founder and Chief Executive Officer, Yiliyapinya Indigenous Corporation.