Main description:

The risk of athletes sustaining concussion while participating in professional team sports raises two serious concerns both nationally and internationally.

First, concussion in sport carries a public health risk, given that injured athletes may have to deal with significant long-term medical complications, with some of the worst cases resulting in Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).

Secondly, sports governing bodies are now exposed to the risk of financial and reputational damage as a consequence of legal proceedings being filed against them. A good example of this, among many other recent examples, is the case of the United States of America's National Football League (NFL), the governing body for American football, which, in 2015, committed to pay US$ 1 billion to settle the class action filed by its former professional players.

This book examines how to most efficiently reduce these public health and legal risks, and proposes a harmonised solution across sports and legal systems.

Contents:

Chapter 1: IntroductionChapter 1 takes the form of an overall introduction. It first sets the background of the concussioncontroversy and highlights its related public health and legal issues. It then focuses more specifically on theresearch question, scope of the research and need for harmonisation. It finally states the book, itsoriginality, significance and methodology, as well as the structure and arguments invoked.
Chapter 2: Medical ChapterChapter 2 provides a general medical overview of sports concussion, with a special emphasis on thecurrent state of medical science and the medical (treatment and management) guidelines published bymedical organisations and other related groups. Initially starting from the definition of concussion, it then examines the question of symptoms and levels of concussion, together with other related issues (such asreturn to play decisions). Difficulties related to the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of concussion arethen presented. There follows a description of the second-impact syndrome and the potential long-termeffects associated with multiple instances of concussion. The chapter ends with an outline of the future keymedical-related challenges. It shows that medical science is the starting point of the actual enquiry, butcould also potentially be part of the solution. The medical (treatment and management) guidelines are vitalto the science. Both elements could inform and contribute to the development of an internationalstandard, such as the ISC.
Chapter 3: National Case StudiesChapter 3 consists of national case studies, which describe and analyse the current regulation of sportsconcussion. It collects, examines and analyses the data obtained from the different countries and sportsselected. The national case studies focus on selected professional team sports and countries which have a history of,or potential for, CTE and litigation: United States (American football, ice hockey, football, baseball, waterpolo); Canada (Canadian football); Australia (rugby, Australian Rules football); Switzerland (football, icehockey); Brazil and England (football).
Chapter 4: General TrendsChapter 4 identifies, briefly evaluates and summarises the common themes, good practices and existingshortcomings resulting from the data collected in chapter 3. A series of tables is compiled to assist in thistask. This chapter demonstrates that the concussion controversy (CTE cases, litigation) has recently manifestedon a large scale. It then highlights some emerging good practices as well as perceived shortcomings, andthereby indirectly exposes the means by which the concussion issue could be better regulated worldwidefrom legal and public health perspectives.
Chapter 5: Harmonised ReformsIn view of these findings, chapter 5 adopts an innovative two-step approach.In the first section, this chapter seeks further guidance by examining the harmonised regulatorymechanisms that have been successfully introduced in doping, match-fixing and spectator violence, all ofwhich involve international arrangements.This chapter argues that despite its disciplinary nature and other characteristics specific to doping, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) system must address similar issues as a regulatory system forconcussion.
Chapter 6: ConclusionChapter 6 concludes that a harmonised approach across sports and legal systems would be the mostcompelling and effective solution to address the two-fold medical and legal risks of sports concussion.This chapter sums up the benefits of the proposed reforms. WSSA would allow the creation, updating andmonitoring of the ISC. The ISC, implemented and enforced on a large scale, would reduce the risk ofimmediate and long-term injury to professional athletes. By clarifying the requirements, it would alsolower the risk of litigation, and end the legal uncertainty that currently prevails at an international level.