Concussion in Para Sport (CIPS)

Concussion is a huge global issue for all forms of football, and has been the subject of extensive scientific and media attention in recent years. To date however, there has been no specific guidance and advice to shape the assessment and management of Para athletes with concussion.

Para Football’s Dr Osman Ahmed said: 

“It has been a privilege to be able to work with some of the world-leading clinicians involved in Para Sport to be able to create these guidelines.

We are confident that this Position Statement will be the first of many steps in improving the concussion management of Para footballers globally, and we look forward to helping to enhance the welfare for all formats of Para Football.” 

Para Football Co-Founder, Sam Turner says:

“For many years this has been an important topic in need of a joined up strategy to protect our players across all formats of the game, and wider Para sport.

We are pleased that Para Football provides a collaborative platform bringing together all stakeholders to develop a safer game, and world-renowned experts such as Osman and Richard are driving the change.”

Para Football and our partners are working to facilitate concussion research across the various formats of Para Football and member associations worldwide. With the health and well-being of all our players as the key priority, we will collaborate with all stakeholder groups to ensure this.

Assembling a group of international Para Sport and concussion experts, the “Concussion in Para Sport” (CIPS) group have created a position statement as a guiding document for Para Sport.

Para Football’s Medical & Sports Science Unit Co-Leads, Dr Osman Ahmed and Dr Richard Weiler, are both authors on this Position Statement, and are members of the newly-formed CIPS group which authored the Position Statement. This group of international experts includes several members of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Medical Committee, as well as other renowned international Para Sport researchers and concussion experts.

The group hopes this work will help athletes and clinicians to shape concussion care for Para Sport globally.