A Timely Reminder To Take Concussion Seriously

We’ve already seen Tahnee Seagrave withdraw from the Fort William World Cup this weekend due to concussion, and we’re hearing rumours that perhaps the …

By stwhannah

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I had a bad crash last year and was unconscious for several minutes. I was rushed to the trauma unit at Salford and my immediate emergency care was fantastic.

However I wasn’t given any information around the impact that the concussion would have on me in the coming weeks and months.

As I was working from home I went straight back to work despite having a fractured shoulder. I never gave my head time to heal and after a month I was in a pretty bad way and no way myself. I’m lucky I could call on my private healthcare and ended seeing someone at the Priory it was clear I was suffering from post concussion syndrome. It took at least 3-4 months for me to anywhere feeling normal. If I’d just rested for those first few weeks I reckon I’d have recovered so much faster.

Thank you for writing about this, Hannah! This is such an important topic. I’ve taken some questionable decisions after crashes that resulted in concussion in the past and still feel the repercussions of those till this day. Brain injuries suck, but what sucks even more is when people don’t take them seriously and there isn’t much awareness about the topic!

Wish this had been more known about years ago as I raced motocross from age 8 through to 19 with numerous concussions/knocked out yet as long as you could stand you were back in the race, then yet more concussions/knocked out throughout the 90’s and beyond as occasional rally navigation for a mate along with the multitude of mtb crashes. Last mri scan in 2020 showed massive lesions and multiple areas of dead tissue in my brain, perhaps that’s what brought on my ms to eventually end up as spms.

Fullest sympathy and support for the decisions these girls are making. Not feeling pressured into racing.
Like Staininypants above I had a big knock to the head in December 2021 with a 20min KO. Had a full raft of PCS symptoms right through till March, I started back to work after Christmas, which in retrospect was probably a bit early as some decisions/work was questionable at best.
I was enrolled in an online study which tracked symptoms and feelings but beyond that had no medical intervention. Back to baseline now thankfully.

I am on week 7 now following a crash and concussion and still not right. Any sudden exertion brings the concussion symptoms back. Very frustrating. I have been seen twice in by the drs that time and just need to take things easy until I am right again. GP was ok with light aerobic riding, but I won’t touch the trail bike until I am 100% again.

Have a look into finding a “Vestibular” Physiotherapist.

Is a really good listen.

I was going to post that same Cycling Podcast link – definitely worth a listen.

And that’s another DHer sitting out of Fort William this weekend due to concussion: Finn Iles.

Apologies for the PB link but couldn’t find an alternative source: https://www.pinkbike.com/news/finn-iles-decides-to-miss-fort-william-and-undergo-testing-following-a-concussion.html

Dammit! You go on the school run and the news I thought was coming is released!
Didn’t want to name Finn publicly until it was official, but I’d heard this was the case:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CdvnFibtmUB/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Great that this is being highlighted again. It would be even better if sports media, teams and athletes could call ‘concussion’ by the proper term = mild traumatic brain injury.

Thanks Hannah. I’m looking into chronic traumatic brain injury just now and this has been a welcome, if disconcerting, shift from academic papers.

Thanks from me as well Hannah. I was hit by a car on New Year’s Eve. Knocked out for a bit, and my helmet was cracked through. I had lots of other injuries, so I only became aware of the concussion symptoms after I was out of hospital. I’m still not right – concentration is poor, I’m making some unusual errors at work, short temper and excessively tired, etc, etc. It’s reinforced the importance of looking after yourself after an injury, giving things time to heal and not pushing too hard. I’ll second the recommendation of checking out Lizzie Banks’ podcasts about her recovery from head injury last year.

I still find it off that the doctors gave Myriam the all clear to race at Lourdes.

Also, while the increasing awareness of concussion is good, it’s a shame there’s not a bigger push like there is in other sports (e.g. HEADCASE); thinking especially of Vincent Baestaens at the Cyclocross World Champs as a recent incident.

Agree, a failure of duty of care. And we see the same in MotoGP with riders ‘unfit’ racing. There was a recent example of a rider not remembering a practice/ qualifying crash, but still going out. Beggars belief…

I also recall Kate Courtney crashing in the 2020 World Champs in Leogang, carrying on for a short while, then realising she wasn’t right and retiring…

More needs to be done, and proper protocols.

Sounds like Myriam is fired up for racing this weekend, but did have some serious issues – good bit of chat about consussion and recovery (using a Rugby physio!) here on Wyn TV:

Its definitely something we should probably all take more seriously

A massive OTB at the mega many years back probably should have had me in for a scan, took me months to recover, but I was young and daft then and mostly ignored it.

And a few years back an OTB (without helmet) saw me off the bike for quite a while while I got back on the bike.

who doest wear a helmet when popping to the shops

The EWS did some work on this three years ago – worth a read.

It’s something that needs to be taken out of the athletes hands, crash with head impact, sit out and get assessed to determine the length of time out.