IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i8p5449-d1119736.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

‘If in Doubt, Sit Them Out’: How Long to Return to Elite Cycling Competition following a Sports-Related Concussion (SRC)?

Author

Listed:
  • Neil Heron

    (Centre for Public Health, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT12 6BA, UK
    Medical Department, British Cycling, Manchester M11 4DQ, UK
    School of Medicine, Keele University, Staffordshire ST5 5BG, UK)

  • Nigel Jones

    (Medical Department, British Cycling, Manchester M11 4DQ, UK)

  • Christopher Cardwell

    (Centre for Public Health, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT12 6BA, UK)

  • Clint Gomes

    (Medical Department, British Cycling, Manchester M11 4DQ, UK)

Abstract

Introduction: A concussion or sports-related concussion (SRC) is a traumatic brain injury induced by biomechanical forces. After a SRC diagnosis is made, a concussed individual must undergo a period away from competition while they return to their baseline level of functioning. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) currently recommend a minimum of 6 days restriction from competitive cycling following a SRC but there is a growing feeling amongst those involved in brain injury research that this period is too short. Therefore, how much time should cyclists be removed from competitive sporting action following a SRC? Aims: To review the time out of competition following the diagnosis of a SRC for elite cyclists within British Cycling (BC). Methods: All medical records for elite cyclists within BC were audited for diagnoses of “concussion” or “sports-related concussions” from January 2017 until September 2022. The days out of competition following the concussion until ready to compete again (that is, returned to full training) was then calculated. All diagnoses and management of SRC were undertaken by the medical team at BC and in-keeping with current international guidelines. Results: Between January 2017 and September 2022, there were 88 concussions diagnosed, 54 being males and 8 in para-athletes. The median duration for time out of competition for all concussions was 16 days. There was no statistical difference between males (median 15.5 days) and females (median 17.5 days) for time out of competition ( p -value 0.25). The median duration out of competition following a concussion for able-bodied athletes was 16 (80 athletes) compared to 51 days (8 athletes) in para-cyclists, which was not statistically different ( p -value 0.39). Conclusions: This is the first study to report SRC concussion recovery times in elite cycling, including para-athletes. Between January 2017 and September 2022, there were 88 concussions diagnosed at BC and the median duration for time out of competition for all concussions was 16 days. There was no statistically significant difference in recovery times between male and females and para- and able-bodied athletes. This data should be used to help establish minimum withdrawal times post-SRC for elite cycling participation and we call on the UCI to review this data when establishing SRC protocols for cycling, with further research required in para-cyclists.

Suggested Citation

  • Neil Heron & Nigel Jones & Christopher Cardwell & Clint Gomes, 2023. "‘If in Doubt, Sit Them Out’: How Long to Return to Elite Cycling Competition following a Sports-Related Concussion (SRC)?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(8), pages 1-8, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:8:p:5449-:d:1119736
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/8/5449/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/8/5449/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. George R.G. Clarke, 2021. "From the Editor," The International Trade Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(4), pages 309-310, July.
    2. George R.G. Clarke, 2021. "From the Editor," The International Trade Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(1), pages 1-3, January.
    3. George R.G. Clarke, 2021. "From the Editor," The International Trade Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(6), pages 491-492, November.
    4. George R. G. Clarke, 2021. "From the Editor," The International Trade Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(3), pages 219-220, May.
    5. George R. G. Clarke, 2021. "From the Editor," The International Trade Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(5), pages 411-412, September.
    6. George R.G. Clarke, 2021. "From the Editor," The International Trade Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(2), pages 133-134, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lee, Seungpeel & Kim, Jina & Kim, Dongjae & Kim, Ki Joon & Park, Eunil, 2023. "Computational approaches to developing the implicit media bias dataset: Assessing political orientations of nonpolitical news articles," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 458(C).
    2. Feng Fang & Jing Wang & Jingjing Lin & Yuxia Xu & Guoyang Lu & Xin Wang & Pengcheng Huang & Yuhan Huang & Fei Yin, 2023. "Risk Assessment of Maize Yield Losses in Gansu Province Based on Spatial Econometric Analysis," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-26, June.
    3. Minna Lyons & Gayle Brewer & Anna-Maria Hartley & Victoria Blinkhorn, 2023. "“Never Learned to Love Properly”: A Qualitative Study Exploring Romantic Relationship Experiences in Adult Children of Narcissistic Parents," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-13, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:8:p:5449-:d:1119736. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.