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American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 2019, 7(2), 34-39
DOI: 10.12691/AJSSM-7-2-2
Case Study

Prevention and Management of Sport-Related Concussions in Uganda: A Case Study

Samuel K Lubega1, , Mike Lambert1, Timothy Makubuya2, Shelina Babul3, Haruna Muwonge4, Robert Zavuga5, Josephine Kasolo4 and Joseph Kalanzi6

1Department of Human Biology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

2Department of Educator Preparation and Leadership, University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, USA

3Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

4Department of Physiology, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda

5Medical Commission, Uganda Olympic Committee, Kampala, Uganda

6Emergency Medicine Division, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda

Pub. Date: April 24, 2019
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Samuel K Lubega, Mike Lambert, Timothy Makubuya, Shelina Babul, Haruna Muwonge, Robert Zavuga, Josephine Kasolo and Joseph Kalanzi. Prevention and Management of Sport-Related Concussions in Uganda: A Case Study. American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 2019; 7(2):34-39. doi: 10.12691/AJSSM-7-2-2

Abstract

Head injuries in sports often go unnoticed and untreated with a risk of increasing the severity of neurological difficulties for affected athletes. While there is much research on athletes in developed countries, the data on athletes from developing countries is lacking. Using a descriptive case study approach, this report focuses on concussions from four main sports (football, athletics, basketball and rugby). Emphasis was placed on those athletes who had been identified with a sport-related concussion (SRC). The phases of emergency, intermediate, rehabilitative, and return to sports participation were considered in this study. Three SRC cases from both male and female athletes were observed and interviewed for post-injury management from the emergency phase to return to sports participation. There was evidence of lack of specific pre-season screening of athletes for concussion history and standard care for concussed athletes in all the three cases observed using the best medical practice framework. Our study shows barriers such as knowledge among the sports resource providers; a law and policies to mandate care, and the absence of specific facilities for managing athletes with concussions. Implementation of sports health care policies is necessary to mandate care for athletes. Strategies for prevention and management of concussions are necessary, especially through increasing the awareness and knowledge using the Concussion Awareness Training Tool (CATT). Further studies with larger samples are encouraged to ascertain the magnitude of existing barriers.

Keywords

concussion, knowledge, prevention, emergency, rehabilitation, best medical practice

Copyright

Creative CommonsThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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