During this session, I spent 2 hours pitchside during a game. The first injury occurred around 10 minutes in when a player went down without contact, feeling faint and dizzy. Water was taken on and the game was stopped, there were signs after around a minute that it would be concerning and the player decided to play on. However, minutes later the player went down again after a tackle that did not contact their head, however, their head and neck were thrown in a whiplash-like motion and the player was displaying signs of concussion with a head rush, dizziness, and nausea. The player was taken off straight away with concerns of injury and a pitchside assessment was conducted confirming they had signs of concussion, the player will not be a player for at least 3 weeks unless they can be cleared by a medical professional and then they can start the return to play process. 

The player was given a leaflet upon leaving at the end of the game which provides all the guidance needed to manage a head injury as provided by headcase as well as aftercare advice to seek medical help if any symptoms start or get progressively worse.

Area for improvement:

Although no contact occurred this player still had signs of concussion and should have been taken off when they went down the first time due to further injury that could have been a lot more serious than it was. As the therapist, I should have known that concussion can occur this way and taken them off the pitch when they went down the first time so therefore recapping the signs and symptoms of concussion or head injuries should be revisited on my behalf. However, taking the player off the second time once realizing something was not right and noticing the signs was the correct move to make to prevent any further more fatal injury to this player. Although I have already acquired my Headcase certification, I will revisit the information and activities required to attain this certification to refresh my knowledge of the subject.

Returning to reflection at a later date:

The player had signs of concussion as a result of the scat test and went to the doctors 3 weeks later to get cleared to be able to begin their return to play process.