26 April, 2016 – Today, 26 April 2016, sees the launch in Dublin of the International Concussion & Head Injury Research Foundation’s (ICHIRF) project, Concussion in Sport, an initiative looking at the long-term effects of concussion in men and women who have competed in impact sports. The project also involves a new partnership between ICHIRF and the Sports Surgery Clinic (SSC), enabling the screening of Irish volunteers at the SSC in Dublin later this year.
The study, which seeks to establish whether retired sportsmen and sportswomen have an increased incidence, or suffer an earlier onset, of neuro-degenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease and the condition currently described as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), was launched in London on 21 January this year.
The Concussion in Sport research project is a totally independent study that is open to all sportsmen and sportswomen but will initially focus on retired British, Irish and French jockeys because of the very high incidence of concussion in horseracing. With today’s launch in Dublin, detailed screening is now available to selected Irish sportsmen and women and this will become even easier when the SSC program is underway.
ICHIRF is working collaboratively with a number of other organisations currently undertaking research on the same subject in Australia, Switzerland and the USA. The Irish launch will be followed by a launch in France in 2017.
Concussion remains one of the most contentious issues in sports medicine and high quality, multicentred, independent research is long overdue.
The Concussion in Sport research project is led by Dr Michael Turner, who has over 40 years’ experience working in sports medicine, formerly as Chief Medical Adviser to British Horseracing and now performing the same role for the Lawn Tennis Association. Dr Turner founded ICHIRF in 2014, and the Chairman is former Minister for Sport and British Olympic Association Chairman, Lord Moynihan. The Scientific Committee is chaired by Professor Paul McCrory, widely recognized as a global leader in the field of concussion research.
Initial volunteers for the Concussion in Sport study include former champion jockeys, Richard Dunwoody MBE, Sir Anthony McCoy, Peter Scudamore, John Francome and Stan Mellor. Funding and support for the project has come from a range of sources, including the Injured Jockeys Fund (IJF), Godolphin and the NFL, as well as private backers.
Lord Colin Moynihan, Chairman of ICHIRF, commented: “We are delighted to announce the launch of this groundbreaking research study in Dublin. Independent research is long overdue in this area, and this project seeks to address that lack of knowledge. Today’s launch recognizes the importance of the Irish sports fraternity in a global context; the support and participation of Irish athletes in the project, and our collaboration with the Irish Sports Surgery Clinic will be an important element of the overall study. We believe this unique international research project will lead to a watershed moment for all sports, with future governing bodies being able to address the subject of concussion, armed with the facts and statistics relating to the safety of all athletes.”
Dr Adrian McGoldrick, Senior Medical Officer of The Turf Club said: “As the Senior Medical Officer, my primary concern is the health and safety of my riders both now and into the future. There is still a major deficit of knowledge about concussion and its potential long-term effects, and this study is an essential part of that search for knowledge. I therefore encourage all our retired riders, flat and jump, amateur and professional, to take part in the study and contribute to filling the knowledge gap that exists in this sphere. It is my hope that existing riders will benefit, as will those who follow them.”
Dr Michael Turner, Medical Director of ICHIRF commented: “We are delighted to be launching this project in Dublin and to welcome the team from SSC who will be playing such an important part of the project going forward. I am delighted at the progress we have made since formally launching the project in January and we have already had over 700 responses to our online questionnaire. Weekly screening of volunteers is now taking place in London and the more data we gather the better the quality of our research. Our over-arching objective is clear: to acquire sufficient data to better predict the outcome of repetitive concussion and thereby facilitate better understanding of individual risk.”
Brough Scott MBE, Director of ICHIRF, said: “Ireland has a particularly dedicated sporting community, and it is very pleasing to be able to launch the project in Dublin today. Critical to the study will be generating the maximum amount of data from those who take part – the more participants we have, the more data we will produce, and the more relevant our findings will be. We are confident that we will see a strong uptake from Irish participants in the study, particularly with the prominence of horseracing in the Irish community.”
Richard Dunwoody MBE said: “As professional jockeys, with on average a fall every 14 rides, it was accepted that we would suffer concussion but we gave little thought as to what the long-term effects of repetitive head injuries would be, so this is an important research project, not only for racing, but for all sports. It will be of great benefit to establish the facts regarding the effects of concussion and to be able to minimise risks for athletes in the future.”
Retired sportsmen and sportswomen from all sports can already enroll in the Concussion in Sport research project (e.g. rugby union, Gaelic games, football, boxing, other equestrian sports etc.) and ICHIRF is also appealing to members of the public who have never had a concussion to contribute to the study as the ‘control group’. The ‘control’ volunteers are essential to the overall credibility of the research and will enable a matched age, and gender, comparison to be made with the concussed volunteers.