Teen’s long road to recovery after concussion – why resting is crucial
This footy-loving teen had her world turned upside down when a dangerous tackle led to months of concerning concussion symptoms. But luckily, there are ways to reduce the risk
READING LEVEL: GREEN
Teenager Alannah Green loves footy. But during a game in 2024 she was “sling tackled*” to the ground and suffered a concussion*.
Unable to put her arms out, Alannah came down hard, smacking her head into the rock-solid turf.
Her mum Danielle Green thinks Alannah, now 15, probably knew she had hurt herself at the time, but her daughter played on anyway.
“I think she knew, but she didn’t want to make a fuss,” Ms Green said.
That night Alannah got a migraine*, which Ms Green said was not out of the ordinary, and she went to school the next day. That night she again woke with a migraine, this time vomiting.
Alannah went to see her GP and then went to The Royal Children’s Hospital.
It wasn’t until her parents saw a video of the game that they realised how bad Alannah’s injury had been.
“We didn’t realise how bad it was. We had been at the game, but didn’t see what had happened,” Ms Green said.
Alannah had been wearing a helmet while playing, but it hadn’t protected her from getting a concussion.
A concussion is a type of mild traumatic* brain injury that occurs when someone suffers a blow to the head or body that affects brain function. Falls are considered the most common cause of concussion.
People with concussion often experience headaches, dizziness, nausea and vomiting and ringing in the ears. They may also feel sleepy, have blurry vision, feel confused and even experience memory loss.
For eight months after her injury, Alannah struggled with balance and memory. But thanks to a referral to the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute’s (MCRI) concussion recovery program, she has since started on the road to recovery.
Professor Vicki Anderson has been leading a project at MCRI to further develop personalised concussion care.
She was awarded a $1.5 million traumatic brain injury grant by the Medical Research Future Fund to support the Concussion Essentials Clinic at MCRI.
“There is so much momentum* in concussion research and we want as many patients as possible to benefit from the latest findings, including young adults and children at preschool age who experience significant, lingering* symptoms,” Professor Anderson said.
Prof Anderson said research had helped to increase understanding of biomarkers* and other possible reasons why some people take longer to feel better.
She said concussion had been around forever, but had only gained extra interest as a research subject over the past decade and there was still a lot of work to do in understanding the complex condition.
“While it’s a seemingly minor injury, outcomes from concussion are surprisingly complex and we don’t really know why that is,” Prof Anderson said.
“This is particularly the case for children … There are now several teams internationally researching child and youth concussion, which is good, but this young age group is often forgotten or goes undetected, despite the consequences likely to be different to those from adult concussion.”
A lot of the research focused on elite sport while media coverage focused on negative outcomes such as the increased risk of dementia*, she said.
“This is a problem because there is insufficient* data yet to prove this association in adults,” she said. “The result is that many parents, worried about their child having a concussion, will keep their child from playing ‘competitive’ sports, not realising that activities such as snow sports and bike riding are associated with a higher risk of concussion.”
Prof Anderson said the current solution to reducing the risk of concussion could involve the following steps:
* PREVENTION (sports codes rule changes, skills coaching, protective gear such as mouthguards and headgear);
* IDENTIFYING biomarkers for detecting concussion;
* BETTER understanding of risk factors (community education); and
* EARLY intervention* to speed up recovery.
She said while there was no cure, it was possible to speed up the full improvement of symptoms.
She said if someone gets a concussion, they should take it very seriously and rest up.
“When in doubt, sit them out, and a medical check is always important,” Prof Anderson said. “However, gradual return to activity is normally recommended after one to two days.”
She said if you get concussion and still have symptoms after two weeks, your parents should take you to see a concussion specialist.
NEW WAYS CONCUSSION RISK IS BEING ADDRESSED
With concussion posing a risk to both elite athletes and schoolchildren, there have been a range of recent changes and innovations to help improve early intervention and prevention on the sports field.
These include off the field rules across multiple sporting codes that require the medical assessment and removal of players from play if they exhibit signs of a concussion following a head injury, as well as minimum “return to play” periods that allow for a proper recovery.
There has also been far greater awareness of concussion and the risks this type of injury poses to kids as well as elite athletes.
Medical innovations aimed at early intervention and prevention have also helped keep players safe.
One recent example is a concussion-monitoring mouthguard, allowing parents and coaches to monitor any head impacts that occur among young players.
HITIQ’s Proteqt smart mouthguard assigns a “Damage Severity Index” score to each impact, helping parents and coaches identify incidents that may need medical attention.
POLL
GLOSSARY
- sling tackled: a dangerous tackle where the tackler swings the person carrying the ball around and they hit the ground heavily
- concussion: a mild traumatic brain injury that occurs when someone suffers a blow to the head or body that affects brain function
- migraine: a brain condition that often involves a very bad headache, nausea and sensitivity to light and can also include visual disturbances, dizziness and other distressing symptoms
- traumatic: causing trauma, or injury from impact
- momentum: when something builds up and progresses
- lingering: lasting for a period of time
- biomarkers: indicators of bodily or chemical processes in response to treatments that help determine the likelihood of disease developing or effectiveness of treatment
- dementia: diseases that involve memory loss, cognitive decline, difficulty planning tasks and personality changes as well as loss of control over bodily functions
- insufficient: not enough
- intervention: recognising it early and stepping in to prevent further damage
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QUICK QUIZ
1. What is concussion?
2. What is the most common cause of concussion?
3. What are some of the main symptoms of concussion?
4. How did Alannah get a concussion?
5. What are two ways concussion risk is being addressed?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Change the rules
Write at least three rules that you think all sports should follow to help lower the risks of concussion. For each new rule, write sentences explaining why you chose that rule.
Time: Spend at least 25 minutes on this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education
2. Extension
What are biomarkers and why are they so important? Use information from the story to brainstorm ideas on this question.
Time: Spend at least 10 minutes on this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science, Health and Physical Education
VCOP ACTIVITY
Wow word recycle
There are plenty of wow words (ambitious pieces of vocabulary) being used in the article. Some are in the glossary, but there might be extra ones from the article that you think are exceptional as well.
Identify all the words in the article that you think are not common words, and particularly good choices for the writer to have chosen.
Select three words you have highlighted to recycle into your own sentences.
If any of the words you identified are not in the glossary, write up your own glossary for them.
Extension
Find a bland sentence from the article to up-level. Can you add more detail and description? Can you replace any base words with more specific synonyms?
Down-level for a younger audience. Find a sentence in the article that is high level. Now rewrite it for a younger audience so they can understand the words without using the glossary.