What is Athlete Injury Management?
Injury Management for athletes typically follows the following lifecycle:
- Recognition
- Initial Assessment
- Immediate Treatment - Sideline
- Post Game Treatment - Rooms
- Referral
- Diagnosis
- Treatment
- Rehabilitation
- Return to Play
It’s important to understand who plays a role in these stages as they depend on the level of qualifications held by the person involved.
1.Recognition
Who: First Aider/Trainer or Coach
Trainers are typically first to recognise an athlete, but it can be anyone from the athlete themselves, a parent or even an observer. This could be the result of a collision, a tackle or sudden change of direction. 2. Initial Assessment Who: First Aider/Trainer
First Aiders/Trainers will assess the athlete and their injury to determine:
- What part(s) of the body is impacted
- How the injury happened
- The seriousness of the injury
- Can they be removed safely from the playing field
- Is an ambulance required The assessment may change over time.
3. Immediate Treatment - Sideline
Who: First Aider/Trainer
Where an athlete is able to be removed from the playing fields safely, further assessment may be conducted, including:
- Injury type - strain/sprain/cramp/contusion/bone etc - all these may initially present in a similar way
- Some injuries may just require rest, whilst other may need tape The Trainer will determine if the athlete should return to play or not. Sideline Treatments will depend on the injury type, seriousness of the injury and level of competition - senior vs junior
4. Immediate Treatment - Rooms
Who: First Aider/Trainer
For serious injuries it is best to move the athlete to change rooms, where safe and practical, to allow further assessment. Injuries such as concussions, the relevant testing is best done away from distractions and noise, to ensure the health and wellbeing of the athlete and accuracy of the testing.
5. Referral
Who: First Aider/Trainer
Injuries beyond the training/qualification of the First Aider/Trainer, must be referred to an appropriate medical practitioner, which may include paramedics to attend. It is important for the First Aider/Trainer to refer injuries that are beyond their qualifications and training.
6. Diagnosis
Who: Qualified Medical Practitioner
Diagnosis of any injury can only be performed by a qualified medical practitioner. First Aiders/Trainers should not provide any level of diagnosis. This includes concussions - a First Aider/Trainer can only conduct an assessment, and if the athlete fails the assessment, they are considered to have a suspected concussion.
7. Treatment
Who: Qualified Medical Practitioner
Like Diagnosis, Treatment of any injury can only be performed by a qualified medical practitioner. First Aiders/Trainers should only provide treatment within the parameters of their training and qualifications.
8. Rehabilitation
Who: Qualified Medical Practitioner
Like Diagnosis and Treatment, Rehabilitation of any injury can only be performed by a qualified medical practitioner. Rehabilitation Plans may be shared by the athlete to the First Aider/Trainer to assist the athlete.
9. Return to Play
Who: Qualified Medical Practitioner
Being cleared to return to play by a medical doctor is normally associated with concussion injuries, however this may apply to any other injury.
The above lifecycle may be typical for most injuries, however some injuries may skip steps or stop at other steps. This is dependent on the injury type and the seriousness of the injury.
AthHQ deals with the Recording and Monitoring of injuries, it does not deal directly with the Diagnosis, Treatment, Rehabilitation or Return to Play steps. The athlete may choose to enter the information from these steps to complete the injury history and provide the additional information to assist with monitoring.
AthHQ provides the athlete with an “Athlete Injury Passport”.