Concussion - A student athlete experience

By Ellie Wolfe (@EWolfey), October 19th, 2020 

The Incident  

During my third year of University, I was playing in a football game and remember going into a high tackle and colliding shoulder and head with a strong opponent. I was quite disorientated and the match play did stop for the ref to ask if I was okay. However, it was mid-match and with limited concussion knowledge at the time I kept playing - it was all a bit of a blur, and like most student athletes, I am very competitive. It is sometimes hard to think logically whilst in a game. This whole experience took place only a few months after I’d experienced my first concussion. Knowing what I know now, I never should have been allowed to play on at the time.

The First 24 Hrs

In the changing room after the game, I remember thinking that the music was quite loud... I felt off... but I thought I was just dehydrated and carried on as normal. It wasn’t until I was on the bus back home after the game that I fully realized I wasn’t feeling right. I had almost forgotten I’d had a collision during the game. My vision started going funny and I felt very disorientated and tired.  

Once I got back to my flat, my flat mates noticed I wasn’t right, but I just played it off and thought that sleep would help. I now know in these circumstances I should have sought medical attention, which is what I did the next morning when I woke up with a pounding headache. I was given a booklet about post-concussion syndrome and told to just “take it easy” and things should be better after a week or two. This unfortunately was not the case (and not overly great advice!).   

The Recovery Journey 

The initial few weeks were tough. I experienced constant migraine type headaches, which made everything harder as a student and as an athlete who was keen to get back to normal. In fact, getting back to my normal routine took a while. At the time I didn’t know about return-to-learn and return-to-play protocols, and I likely pushed myself too early in my recovery.  

A year and a half on I still suffer with post-concussion symptoms. This has been difficult. Some days I still struggle to do anything... it can be small things like a meeting, too much screen time and loud noises make the headaches worse. I still can’t play any sport at the level of training I am used to. This is a hard thing to adjust to when sport has been a huge part of your life. I have managed to stay involved in sport through coaching and being part of the committee. 

Becoming a Physical Education (PE) teacher has always been my goal, however, there were many occasions in the last academic year that I thought I wouldn’t even be able to apply as I didn’t think I could get through the interview practical elements without setting my progress back. Luckily, I managed and I work hard to balance the recovery process in a way that I hope won't set me back in my initial teacher education this year.  

The Hardest Part about Concussion

The hardest part for me was trying to continue to keep positive. There’s only so many times that you can tell people “my head hurts” or “sorry I’m leaving early because I need to sleep”. Although the people closest to me now understand this and are the greatest support, it is truly difficult – for the friends and teammates, as well as for the person with the concussion.  

Also, I suppose the lack of knowledge and negative attitudes from many people can leave you feeling low, and unsure if things will get better. Some people will look down on you and say, ‘ah just play, it’s just a headache’, but it is so much more than this. The negative attitudes I have experienced wouldn’t be the case if I had a broken leg. This is still something I find hard – the not knowing. But for now, I am focusing on how to achieve my goals of becoming a teacher with my current ‘new normal’.  

The Importance of the Right Support

Having people around me that have an informed understanding of concussion has really helped me. The invisible nature of concussion can be very isolating. I didn’t realise until probably too late that there was support in place that I could have accessed. So, my advice would be reach out, don’t play your symptoms down – it will only make things harder - and know that there are people to help.  

What Student Athletes and Coaches Need to Know about Concussion

As hard as it may be, listen to your body, it is not worth rushing back to sport as this will only elongate your recovery. You aren't at your best whilst still recovering from concussion, so you’re not doing yourself or your teammates/coaches any favours. Trust me, a concussion (or in more direct terms, a brain injury) is something you want to take seriously and look after as best you can. 

My biggest hope is that knowledge and attitudes towards concussion continue to improve. Support and understanding from the people around you are the biggest help. If in any doubt, sit out!  

Whilst it is easy to say you’re fine and you’ll play on, you may be feeling fine in that moment, but symptoms often take time to come on (mine definitely did!). Don’t let it get any worse than it needs to be. Support your teammates, look out for signs and symptoms and encourage people around you to follow the guidelines! I’m still recovering and sometimes it feels like it’s one step forward and two steps back. Studying to be a PE teacher only motivates me to spread awareness and increase understanding. Any future student suffering with concussion will have my full support, and I will most definitely be taking the phrase “If in doubt, sit them out” into my practice. Things do get easier if you have the right support!  

Let’s encourage use of concussion protocols and guidelines, a timely response to identification, and appropriate management and support practices by all. This way, we get people back to physical activity as safely and efficiently as possible after concussion... and they hopefully don’t have to go through the experience I did!