Helping to better understand concussion in teens: The SHRed Concussions Study
September 25 to October 1 is BC Concussion Awareness Week. Learn more about the BCIRPU’s Concussion Awareness Week activities.
Even though a concussion can happen to anyone, anywhere, and at any time, it’s well-known that athletes are at risk of concussion while playing sports. A recent BCIRPU survey found that 53% of people who reported having a concussion in their lifetime got one while playing sports.1,
BCIRPU is the BC site for the SHRed Concussions Study, a Canada-wide study studying concussions in high school athletes to better understand this traumatic brain injury in this population and improve prevention, diagnosis, and management. SHRed Concussions is funded by the National Football League Scientific Advisory Board and is led by Dr. Carolyn Emery at the University of Calgary.
“Concussions present differently in children and teens than they do in adults, and even then, no two concussions are the same. Our involvement in SHRed will help us to better understand how we can all better support youth in concussion recovery.”
—Dr. Shelina Babul, BCIRPU Associate Director
In mid-September, the SHRed Mobile, the mobile research lab, visited BC and parked pitch-side to enroll BC Rugby players in the study. The organization, which serves as the governing body for rugby union in BC, and has over 8,000 members across 61 organizations, is proud to partner with the SHRed Concussions study.
“Player safety and well-being is our key priority as a sport organization, and a core pillar within our Strategic Plan,” said David Newson, BC Rugby CEO. “We expect that this comprehensive research will provide more valuable information into the prevention and management of injuries which will be beneficial to athletes, coaches, therapists, and officials.”
Javier Robles-Delgado, a Grade 12 student from BC, has had six concussions in his lifetime. His first one was in Grade 8. An avid sports player, Javier has been playing rugby for almost five years. He sustained his concussions in all sorts of ways: jumping on a trampoline, playing basketball, while hanging out with his friends at home. It took Javier around 37 days to fully recover from his latest concussion.
“My last and most recent concussion was on May 26, 2022. This one I got playing rugby for my school. It was a championship game and I was positioned over a teammate, forming a ruck and a player from the opposing team decided to run at me headfirst, and made heavy contact with the top of my head,” said Javier. “I tried to walk it off and was about to stay in the game until my coaches started yelling at me and pulled me off. And luckily they did, because I did not realize it was a concussion until I had a doctor check me out.”
Early recognition, diagnosis, and proper management is crucial to proper concussion recovery, and as Javier knows from experience, if you’re not fully recovered from a concussion, you are at increased risk of sustaining another one.
“Concussions present differently in children and teens than they do in adults, and even then, no two concussions are the same,” said Dr. Shelina Babul, BCIRPU Associate Director and co-principal investigator of SHRed Concussions BC. “Our involvement in SHRed will help us to better understand how we can all better support youth in concussion recovery.”
Javier is grateful for his connection to the ShRed study. “I decided to join the SHRed Concussions study because I believe that what they’re doing is very important, especially to someone like me who has had so many concussions,” he said. “If there are ways to prevent or to improve treatment I wanted to help out in any way I could. A plus side to joining was also the quick access to doctors, MRI scans, and overall screenings.”
“There are no negative implications of joining. It’s only benefits for you,” he added. “[The research team] are there to help you by any means necessary with your recovery. And what they’re doing could help future generations of kids recover in a way we didn’t know was possible.”
To enroll in the SHRed Concussions study, contact shred@bcchr.ca.
For more information about SHRed Concussions, read the web story on the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute website
1. Survey of a representative sample of 900 British Columbians aged 25-55 from July 28 to August 8, 2022 by Majid Khoury on behalf of the BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit. The margin of error is 3.27 per cent. For questions where respondents were asked to rate their confidence on a scale of 1 to 10, scores of 8, 9, and 10 were used in reporting.
- distress when a child was in pain and when a family was grieving; and
- sadness in the event they were not able to save a child in their care.
- concern for the injured child and the child’s family;
Particularly traumatic events, such as those involving vivid sights and sounds (e.g., families holding each other and having extreme reactions), stuck with the practitioners, having long-lasting impressions on them and causing them to re-live these events in the years following their exposure.
Even after their shift was over, practitioners said that they changed how they approached parenting and how they perceived safety during play as a result of witnessing these traumatic events. They reported having more knowledge of the causes and consequences of severe injuries, such as those that require hospitalization or emergency care. For example, practitioners were more likely to enforce boundaries around where their children could play, such as by forbidding their child to play near busy streets. They also were more likely to tell their child about safe play environments and equipment, and put this equipment on their child before play, such as explaining the benefits of using helmets while riding bikes.
Practitioners were more likely to enforce boundaries around where their children could play, and use safety equipment, such as bike helmets.
Practitioners also described being concerned about their children’s play near open windows, around large bodies of water unsupervised, and in environments where firearms were present. They also expressed worry about their children’s play on trampolines and on motorized vehicles, such as ATVs. Findings related to trampoline play safety concerns were published in the journal Injury Prevention.
Observing family grief due to child injury or death affected the mental well-being of health care practitioners, drawing attention to the need for mental health supports for those involved in caring for severely injured and dying patients.
"Raise more resilient children through play...watch and see how your child handles challenging tasks without intervening right away." —Dr. Michelle Bauer
Building resilience through play
How can parents help their children build resilience? By letting them play!
The experiences that practitioners witnessed encouraged them to support their children in building resilience through play; specifically, by supporting children in learning to cope with failure, overcome fear, build self-confidence, develop distress tolerance, and regulate negative emotions. Findings related to building resilience through play were published in the journal Child: Care, Health, and Development.
Parents fostered resilience in their kids by:
- helping their kids get back on bikes after they fell off and wanted to try again;
- sitting on their hands so they did not instinctively reach for their children when their children fell down; and
- encouraging participation in challenging and thrilling activities in forests and water while safety equipment was used.
"There are a few ways that parents can raise more resilient children through play that are supported by literature and our study findings," said Dr. Bauer. "One: watch and see how your child handles challenging tasks without intervening right away."
"Two: Ask your child how they want you to help—let them tell you what makes them feel safe and happy during play. Let them lead. And three: make play both safe and exciting by encouraging risk-taking, teaching them how to avoid hazards, and using safety equipment.”
This research was supported through Drs. Bauer’s and Gilley’s receipt of a clinical and translational research seed grant from the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute (BCCHR), Dr. Bauer’s BCCHR postdoctoral fellowship award, and additional training provided to Dr. Bauer through her participation in the Programs and Institutions Looking to Launch Academic Researchers (PILLAR) program through ENRICH, a national organization training perinatal and child health researchers.
Learn more about the study through two infographic posters:
Graphics and posters by Milica Radosavljevic
