Finals season is a good time to reflect on how sports-related concussions and the associated long-term disability can be prevented so more people keep playing, the country’s peak body for public health said.
Reducing damage to the brains of current and future generations of aspiring sporting stars will help families encourage children to play healthy, active sports for longer.
The Public Health Association of Australia’s comments follow the tabling today of a Senate inquiry into concussions and repeated head trauma in contact sports. PHAA welcomes the inquiry, sent this submission (#58), and gave testimony.
“While the focus might be on the impact on high profile contact sport heroes under pressure to stay on the field for their team’s glory, those cases are the tip of the iceberg,” PHAA CEO, Adj Prof Terry Slevin said.
“Changing how professional sport is played and managed, with a focus on preventing concussion, will flow down to the grassroots and so benefit hundreds of thousands of people who play community sport on weekends.
“With over half a million registered AFL players, 276,000 rugby league players and 230,000 rugby union players, and more women playing such codes
