Tracking recovery after sustaining a sports-related concussion in adolescent rugby players: A prospective study

Sports-related concussive events will be recorded over a single playing season (2022/23). A sports-related concussive event will be defined as a result of a direct blow to the head, face, neck or elsewhere on the body with an impulsive force transmitted to the head, resulting in one or more of the symptoms in one or more of the following clinical domains (which may or may not have involved loss of consciousness): somatic, cognitive, emotional/behavioural; sleep disturbance (McCrory et al., 2016). Sport-related concussion events will be recorded by a data champion and the researcher will make contact with individual schools/clubs on a weekly basis to record any sport-related concussion incidents and begin follow-up. Participants do not have to make contact at any point. All participants will complete baseline assessments of all outcomes at the time of enrolment (baseline). Those who sustain a sport-related concussion will be followed up at 3, 7, 14, 23, 90, 180, and 365 days after a concussive event. A study researcher will conduct a face-to-face session at these time points, which will involve the completion of two questionnaires; Post-Concussion Symptom Scale and PFAB-TBI, a test of balance (QYBT), and an examination of pupillary light reflex metrics. Each assessment method is relatively quick: PLRM takes approximately 5 minutes per subject to complete, Y-Balance Testing takes approximately 5 minutes per subject to complete, PFAB-TBI and PCSS are questionnaires which take approximately 5 minutes each to complete. In total each subject will spend around 20 minutes completing tests.