Concussion: no longer a laughing matter in sport.

Introduction For many years concussion has been a source of amusement in the sporting arena. Indeed, head and bone-jarring collisions are often celebrated by spectators, whilst players may have viewed concussion as a ‘badge of honour’. It would seem that it is only recently, and in response to high profile examples and emerging scientific reports of the short and long term sequelae of concussion and mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI), that the sporting community is waking up to this problem. Conversely, the burden of these types of injury has long been recognised by the military, with the recognition of ‘shellshock’ during World War 1, while mTBI has been referred to as the ‘signature’ injury of the recent Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts (1). It is important that lessons from both the sporting and military arena are translated into good clinical practice to improve the care of our patients (2). A number of sporting organisations and governing bodies have now recognised the need to adopt strategies to prevent, recognise, and appropriately manage concussion, although this recognition and positive action is far from uniform. Put simply, in sport, concussion is still not taken seriously enough.