Work Health And Safety For Traumatic Biomechanical

Concussion in Sports Management

Discuss about the Work Health and Safety for Traumatic Biomechanical.

This essay discusses the definition of concussion and range of concussion in sports management. This essay also discusses the aspect of risk management within the aspect of risk management of the sports person. This essay discusses the reasons behind the range of concussion of the players within the aspect of sports management.

Concussion in sport is considered as one of the wicked problems within the field of sports management. Concussion refers to a type of traumatic brain injury. This brain injury has been remained as one of the most notorious issues of sports. A concussion is also referred as the mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI). A concussion is a complex process that can affect the brain of a human being. Traumatic biomechanical forces secondary to the indirect as well as direct forces to the head induce it.  However, disturbance of the function of the brain is related to neurometabolic dysfunction than structural injury of the brain. A concussion is not involved in a loss of consciousness (Baugh and Kroshus,2015).Concussion has resulted within the collection of emotional, cognitive, physical and many sleep related systems. Several types of these symptoms can last for some minutes, weeks, months and days for some cases of some players. Concussion has become one of the most effective reasons for the retirement and suicide of different sportsperson.  The rate of concussion has been increased to the sports players of the different field of sports. Concussion has affected upon the long-term effect of head injuries at multiple levels. Many players of different fields of a game have wished to quit the game due to these immense ranges of concussions (Anderson and Kian,2012)

Different remedies have been taken to assess the risk of concussion.  Several types of procedures have been taken for managing the risk of the players regarding concussion. Comprehensive concussion education has been taken to manage the risks of the players. PACE (Protecting Athletes through Concussion Education) is one of the important activities of the process of risk management (Benson and Meeuwisse,2005).Two important and popular professional football codes of Australia have adopted different guidelines of concussion risk management of the players. Australia’s two most important professional codes are ‘Rugby League’ and ‘Australian Rules football’ who have adopted effective policies for the management of risk. These guidelines have tried to exclude the concussed players while playing on the same day of the happening of a concussion. The presence of adequate measures of protection can also be referred as one of the most important activities to manage the risks of concussion. Some medical interventions have also been taken to reduce the risks of concussion within the players. The experts should identify the symptom or problem of concussion at very early stage. Different types of conservative treatments, like a cognitive rest and a physical rest of the patients (Bressan and Babl, 2015).

Reasons behind Range of Concussion

However, to manage the issues of concussion several experts of medicine and other scholars have blamed the ethical issues and conflicting issues of a team while managing the issues of a concussion. In the context of return-to-play decision of any player, many sports physicians face lots of conflict and ethical issues while bringing back the player in the game. The doctor of a team has the obligation to the well-being and welfare of the patient or the injured athletic (Drummond, 1990).

On the other hand, the doctor also has obligation to the employer of the team. The employer of a team always wants to win the game in any situation or context of the players. It has been often seen that employers force to play the players while staying in the concussive stage. It has also been seen in many times that interest of team often causes issues for the welfare of players within the team.  There is some conflict of interests between the doctors of the team and patients. Several types of guidelines have been taken to resolve the issues of concussion of patient. However, conflict of interest is one of the most effective issues within the aspect of managing the concussion within the team. The concussion management system can be hampered due to the conflict between doctor, patients and team owner or employer. There are ample of guidelines and policies to manage the risks. However, the internal conflict between the team members, doctors and employer of the team prevent to implement the policies within the team. The governing body of the sport cannot be able to resolve the issues and conflicts within the team (Funk et al. 2011).

As discussed by Kirkwood et al. 2015), the stakeholder management approach is very important within this field of resolving a conflict. Every organization should maintain the requirement and demand of stakeholders. However, a sports management team also should provide adequate infrastructure and resources for managing the interest of every stakeholder group of a sports team. In the context of sport, participants, spectators, governing bodies, community, doctor and financial advisers are the effective stakeholders of the sports management system. Therefore, every sports organization should deal every group of stakeholders with effective management skills. Every sports organization should deliver proper duties and responsibilities towards the stakeholders to enhance the successful operation of the business. A sports organization should effectively deal with all the requirements of stakeholders for enhancing the success of the team also. Proper identification of stakeholders is also very essential for an effective management of the team. According to the theory of Freeman, stakeholders is very important element for the success of the organization. Therefore, every organization should properly look after the issues as well as requirements and demand of every group of stakeholders. Sports organization should inform all the information to the stakeholders of the organization. Organization should also keep the stakeholders satisfied by providing adequate resources for the management of the stakeholders (Glendon et al. 2006).

Risk Management for Sports Persons

Conflict of interest can happen within the group of every stakeholder. Conflict of interest happens when the members of a group serve multiple interests rather than one common interest of the team or organization. Different types of stakeholders are involved in the conflict of interest situation of the organization. Conflict of interest has the negative power to corrupt the motivation of every member of the team or the organization. However, there are some ethical issues in a team while managing the conflict within the team. Every group of stakeholder should maintain a common as well as shared interest within the team. Every sports medicine practitioner has to maintain some conflicting situation while maintaining some ethical issues in the team. The ethical issues are involved in the aspect of patient autonomy, an influence of the present third party and issues of informed consent of the team members of the organization. However, these situations are very difficult for the success of the team or the organization. The success of every team members also should be enhanced by removing the obstacles of conflict and issues within the organization (Marinescu,  2007).

However, concussion exclusion rule can be able to represent the significant aspect of managing the aspect of concussion management of every team member of the organization. The best practice model of concussion management is not always adhered within the aspect of the professional practice of the sport. Many players of the different team of rugby or football teams of Australia have reported that they have faced multiple concussions during one match on the same day. In a recent study, it has been seen in evidence that major teams had not followed the guidelines of Zurich Consensus. Some officers of English Football Association had confessed that most of the employers of the team do not follow the guideline of the principle authority.

However, lack of awareness is one of the most important causes of every team to disobey the guideline of the concussion. There are immense quantities of lack of awareness within the aspect of providing the guideline of concussion management.  Therefore, many team members have not maintained the guidelines of concussion policies and procedures while managing the issues of risk management regarding concussion. Conflict of interest among the team members, doctors and patients (players) is the most substantial obstacle for the proper adherence to management. In most of the cases, the interest of the fourth party is involved within the situation. The interest of the fourth party mainly influences upon the judgment of a person while managing the situation. An interest can be of loyalty, emotion, influence and concern those can hamper the judgment of a person while operating the team as well as an organization (McLellan and McKinlay, 2011).

Conflict Management in Work Health and Safety

However, several guidelines have been taken into consideration for managing the risk of concussion. After the concussion, it seems to be very difficult to bring back the player with great care and medicinal remedies. It has been seen in many cases that the doctor often prevents the player to play in some matches. In spite of the decision of respective doctor, the employer of the particular team force to come back in the field. Team managers often focus only on the success of the team through winning the match. Most of the Rugby, Football and basketball players face this type of trouble while playing in the field. Team managers often do not focus on the proper well-being and medical care of the player. The present of the fourth party often influences the coach to put pressure upon the doctor to give the clearance of play to the injured player for the success of the team (Oughton, 2013). 

Different players are referred as the professional player. Every type of field is referred as the professional place for every player. Therefore, a concussion can be referred as an occupational health and safety hazards for the person. The employer organization or the employer of a sports team should properly maintain WHS or workplace health and safety policies (Partridge and Hall, 2014).  The issue should be identified first then productive precautions should also be taken by the organization here team.  Therefore, NRL and AFL have taken some guidelines to manage the risk assessment purpose of concussion and other medical issues. There are three effective steps to manage the risk of concussion. The first step is included within recognizing the injury. The second step is included within the process of removing the individual or more than one player from the field. The third and last step is included in referring the particularly injured player to the particular medical assistant (Partridge, 2013).

Ethical as well as conflicting issues can be resolved with the help of strong cooperation among the team members. The employees of a sports team should consider the issue of concussion as a hazard of workplace health and safety practice. The conflict can be resolved with the implementation of proper guidelines of the practice.

References

Anderson, E. and Kian, E. (2012). Examining Media Contestation of Masculinity and Head Trauma in the National Football League. Men and Masculinities, 15(2), pp.152-173.

Baugh, C. and Kroshus, E. (2015). Concussion management in US college football: progress and pitfalls. Concussion, pp.1-13.

Benson, B. and Meeuwisse, W. (2005). The Risk of Concussion Associated with Mouthguard Use Among Professional Ice Hockey Players. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, 15(5), p.395.

Bressan, S. and Babl, F. (2015). Diagnosis and management of paediatric concussion. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, p.n/a-n/a.

Drummond, D. (1990). Computers in Safety & Health: Managing Computers in Industrial Hygiene and Safety Programs. Applied Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, 5(3), pp.146-151.

Funk, J., Rowson, S., Daniel, R. and Duma, S. (2011). Validation of Concussion Risk Curves for Collegiate Football Players Derived from HITS Data. Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 40(1), pp.79-89.

Glendon, A., Clarke, S. and McKenna, E. (2006). Human safety and risk management. Boca Raton, FL: CRC/Taylor & Francis.

Kirkwood, G., Parekh, N., Ofori-Asenso, R. and Pollock, A. (2015). Concussion in youth rugby union and rugby league: a systematic review. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 49(8), pp.506-510.

Marinescu, L. (2007). Integrated Approach for Managing Health Risks at Work–The Role of Occupational Health Nurses. Workplace Health & Safety, 55(2), pp.75-87.

McLellan, T. and McKinlay, A. (2011). Does the way concussion is portrayed affect public awareness of appropriate concussion management: the case of rugby league. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 45(12), pp.993-996.

Oughton, N. (2013). Managing Occupational Risk in Creative Practice: A New Perspective for Occupational Health and Safety. Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health, 68(1), pp.47-54.

Partridge, B. (2013). Dazed and Confused: Sports Medicine, Conflicts of Interest, and Concussion Management. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 11(1), pp.65-74.

Partridge, B. and Hall, W. (2014). Repeated Head Injuries in Australia’s Collision Sports Highlight Ethical and Evidential Gaps in Concussion Management Policies. Neuroethics, 8(1), pp.39-45.