University of Queensland research uncovers hidden history of concussion in sport

University of Queensland research is challenging assumptions that the long-term dangers of concussion are a new and unforeseeable problem that only affects professional footballers.

UQ researchers have uncovered the hidden history of concussion in sport, finding the brain-trauma crisis has a long and complex past.

Dr Stephen Townsend from UQ's School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences and The Queensland Centre for Olympic and Paralympic Studies led a team of experts to write a special edition of the Journal of Sport History focusing on sport concussion.

Dr Townsend notes "through nine essays, we present evidence that the brain-trauma crisis is the product of long-term historical processes in a wide range of sports.

"We also examine the hidden history of how brain trauma caused by concussion can affect athletes' families and the broader community."

In addition to studies of North American football, there are analyses of the historical silence of concussion among Australian Indigenous athletes, murder and domestic-violence victims, professional wrestlers and the mothers of brain-damaged athletes.

There is also an analysis of the first recorded instance of sporting brain trauma being used as a legal defence for a major crime - the 1935 trial of boxer Del Fontaine, who murdered his girlfriend Hilda Meek.

Dr Townsend said the recent, rapid increase in concussion research made it seem like an emerging problem, however this research showed that was not the case.

"There is rising evidence linking sporting brain trauma to long-term brain diseases such as chronic trauma encephalopathy, Parkinsonism and other forms of dementia," Dr Townsend added.

"However, officials, athletes and medical personnel have known about the long-term dangers of sports concussion well before now.

"This research is part of a new understanding that solving the concussion crisis will require knowledge of the social and cultural factors that influence concussion-related behaviour.

"Examining past knowledge of concussion, which has been hidden or ignored for decades, can help guide ethical and evidence-based approaches to one of the most vexing problems in modern sport."

The special edition of the Journal of Sport History is the first to conduct a dedicated historical inquiry into sports concussion. 

Dr Stephen Townsend is a lecturer in sport sociocultural studies with the School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences. Stephen joined HMNS in 2019 after completing his PhD in Sport History. His current research examines social, cultural, and historical aspects of sports concussion.

Image. Concussion. Credit: Shutterstock