Athletes with mild concussion can avoid total rest: Experts

(Disclaimer: Information in this report may not be an alternative to a one-on-one professional medical opinion. Follow the advice given by a licensed medical professional if you suffer from a concussion or any other health issue.)

Till now, conventional knowledge stated that in case of a concussion, the person should rest completely. But now a new consensus statement from more than 100 international researchers and clinicians has recommended that athletes suffering from mild concussion should resume light physical and mental activity as it will aid their recovery.

The Guardian has reported that the statement has taken five years to complete and has been informed by 10 systematic reviews of evidence that was concussion-related. The findings and recommendations in the report differ from the recent guidance from the UK government that says that an athlete with a concussion should avoid contact sports for 21 days and should avoid any training for 14 days.

What is a concussion?

It is a traumatic brain injury usually caused by a blow or jolt to the head. A concussion causes symptoms such as disorientation, headache, even amnesia or sensitivity to light and sound. The symptoms may last for several weeks.

Concussion in Sport Group (CISG) hosts a conference every four years to help shape policy on concussion treatment so that athletes on both, the top and grassroots levels would get optimum care. The conference publishes a consensus statement at the end of the conference

The latest statement was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine and it is based on the outcomes of a meeting held in Amsterdam in October 2022.

The consensus statement recommends that individuals who have suffered a concussion can return to light-intensity physical activity like walking or stationary cycling 24-48 hours after a concussion. After this, they can systematically increase their exercise intensity after this.

The consensus statement, however, warns that the patient should stop the exercise if there is a significant increase in the intensity of concussion symptoms. This increase has been defined as a two-point increase on a scale of 0-10 where 0 means no symptoms and 10 means the highest intensity of symptoms.

The statement also says that the patient should limit screen time during the first 48 hours as looking at screens for a long time may drain cognitive ability and may create obstacles in recovery.

“The message is to get patients moving, but in a controlled fashion, and that mild symptom exacerbation is OK,” said Prof John Leddy, Directorof the University of Buffalo’s concussion management clinic.

"It was held previously that total rest was needed for concussion patients. But over the past five to six years we’ve had the emergence of new evidence, which is now quite strong, to show that doing that does not help recovery – it probably actually delays recovery,” said Leddy. “Whereas this more controlled form of physical activity, and even aerobic exercise, speeds recovery and reduces the incidence of persistent symptoms.”

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