Aspetar to introduce guidelines on ‘concussion in sport’

Specialists from Aspetar’s innovative National Sports Medicine Programme (NSMP) are in the process of introducing  the updated “Concussion in Sport” guidelines for clubs, sports organisations and federations across Qatar.

The guidelines, which were agreed upon at the 4th International Conference on Concussion in Sport, held in Zurich in November of 2012, feature an array of ground-breaking new findings designed to protect athletes.

During the conference in Zurich, Aspetar experts played an active role in the decision making process together with 32 specialists from around the world. After the new guidelines were announced, the rules were implemented across Qatar through the NSMP.

The consensus statement was published in February 2013 in the ‘Injury Prevention and Health Protection’ issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine, whose editor-in-chief, Dr Karim Khan, is also the director of the Research and Education Centre at Aspetar.

According to Dr Khan, “Aspetar is an active contributor to the world of sport medicine and sport medicine research and not merely a customer. Having doctors from Aspetar present in Zurich puts Qatar at an advantage where we not only have frontline exposure to valuable information, but we also have the ability to distribute this information before most clubs in the world.”

NSMP is a pioneer programme in Qatar and the region and the first-of-its-kind initiative by Aspetar to guarantee international standards for medical care, treatment and rehabilitation to sports clubs, federations and athletes.

NSMP is also considered a class leading programme at an international level.

The guideline is the fourth revision of recommendations first developed in 2001 in Vienna, in a bid to recognise the importance of concussion and offer some guidance to healthcare professionals on the most important aspect of treating the condition—the timing of return-to-play. The next review will be held in 2015.