On the back of last year's historic insurance payout involving retired AFL player Shaun Smith, a new study has found that impacts of AFL players' concussion last longer than previously thought.
In September 2020, former AFL player Shaun Smith received a AU$1.4 million insurance payout for brain damage after receiving repeated concussions during his career in the 1980s and 1990s. The insurance company confirmed that Smith was “totally and permanently disabled” due to multiple concussions he sustained during his career.
Now, a five-year Monash University study of concussed AFL players found that, on average, concussed AFL players showed no ill symptoms after a week. However, analysis of their blood showed their brains had released high levels of protein Neurofilament light (NfL), which is evidence of damaged brain cells. The levels of NfL had also doubled a week after the concussion and tripled after two weeks despite the symptoms subsiding.
“If players return to play whilst these levels are still elevated, that may indicate that the brain is in a highly vulnerable state,” said study author Dr Stuart McDonald, as reported by Australasian Leisure Management.
Former Collingwood and Brisbane player Jack Frost, who suffered 14 concussions in his career, said he wished he had access to the information during his career as he now suffers from memory loss.
“I can't exercise or get my heart rate up at all without getting headaches and feeling like I'm in a fog or getting head spins or dizzy. I struggle to go to sleep, stay asleep,” Frost told ABC. “I've sort of always thought it doesn't matter how bad your head knock is, you should at least give four weeks rest because it's just not worth it in the end.”
