Brain injury

The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) has added its weight to calls for newly-introduced trials around concussions substitutions to go further.

The PFA, the union representing professional players, has said temporary concussion substitutions need to be considered, in addition to the permanent substitutions which are currently offered under the Premier League trial. Their comments come after the use of the first concussion substitution in football, after West Ham’s Issa Diop was replaced after a clash of heads with Anthony Martial of Manchester United.

While less people are making personal injury claims, specialist lawyers have reiterated the need to ensure people with brain injuries can access the support and therapy they need.

Statistics show that the number of claims dropped by 27 per cent last year, in comparison to 2019, continuing the year-on-year decline seen since 2013. In the past seven years, says APIL, the level of claims made has fallen by a third. While the figures from the past year can be attributed in part to the Government’s ‘stay at home’ message through the COVID-19 pandemic, the downward trend in claim numbers must be addressed, say APIL.

New statutory guidance will recognise that survivors of domestic abuse may have sustained an acquired brain injury (ABI) for the first time, it has been revealed.

Consideration of brain injury will be made as part of the Domestic Abuse Bill, currently being debated by the House of Lords. Domestic abuse protection orders - designed to protect victims from all forms of domestic abuse - will now consider ABI as part of the range of needs any survivor may have. Where police are attending a call out to a domestic incident in the community, they could be accompanied with, or shortly after visited by, an Independent Domestic Violence and Abuse Advisor who would be able to offer expert support to the survivor, including in relation to ABI.

England manager Gareth Southgate has committed his support to efforts to establish potential links between neurodegenerative disorders and former professional footballers.

The England manager will take part in one of the FA-backed studies, and has encouraged other ex-players to follow his lead, to enable critical research to take place. The potential link to neurodegenerative disorders is being explored in independently-led research studies, which are examining former professional footballers for early signs of neurocognitive degeneration.

A link has been established between gut disease and brain injury in premature babies.

In a landmark study, the way by which necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) - a potentially lethal inflammatory condition that destroys a premature infant's intestinal lining - is linked to the brain has been discovered for the first time. Working with mice, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and the University of Lausanne in Switzerland have identified an immune system cell which travels from the gut to the brain and attacks cells rather than protect them as it normally does. Statistics show that as many as 12 per cent of babies weighing under 3.5lbs at birth are affected by NEC, a rapidly progressing gastrointestinal condition in which bacteria invade the wall of the colon and cause inflammation that can ultimately destroy healthy tissue. If a hole is created in the intestinal wall, bacteria can enter the bloodstream and cause life-threatening sepsis.

The world’s first rapid handheld blood test for mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been given clearance by US regulators, it has been revealed.

The device, developed by Abbott, will help detect injuries including concussions, and will help clinicians determine if further assessments, including a CT scan, are necessary. A blood sample will be taken from the patient, with plasma drawn and applied to the test’s cartridge, with results being delivered a short time later. Millions of people worldwide sustain mild brain injuries each year, with Abbott estimating five million in the US alone are affected, and to which its new test could be relevant.

Years of campaigning for concussion substitutions to be introduced into football look set to deliver some success, with Premier League clubs preparing to adopt the policy to help address the need to protect players from the effects of head injury.

In a trial move, expected to take effect from fixtures next week, teams can use up to two substitutes in the event of head injuries, which will be in addition to the usual three substitutions that can be made in a normal match. The substitutions - which will be permanent and not for 10-minute durations as in rugby, to allow for players to leave the pitch for medical assessment and return if deemed able - are expected to be approved at a meeting of the Premier League tomorrow.

Two significant events in neuro practitioners’ calendars have been delayed until later in the year, as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to be felt.

The National Paediatric Brain Injury Conference, which was already revised from an in-person to online event, will now not go ahead as planned in February due to the continuing demands on frontline healthcare professionals as COVID-19 cases continue to rise and the country is plunged back into lockdown.