Sport related concussion (SRC) continues to sit at the centre of public, clinical, and scientific attention, with ongoing debate about diagnosis, management, recovery, and potential long term brain health outcomes. This keynote panel brings together expertise from neuropsychologists working across elite, community, and paediatric sport to provide an up to date, clinically grounded overview of current evidence and its practical implications for neuropsychological practice.
The session will begin with a concise review of SRC as a clinical entity—what it is, what it is not, and how evolving definitions influence assessment and management. Current international, and national, sport-related concussion guidelines will be outlined. Speakers will highlight areas of consensus, and uncertainties, focusing on how neuropsychologists can navigate these issues in day to day clinical decision making from an informed evidence base.
The panel will explore key issues across the lifespan. This includes SRC in healthy young athletes, where presentations are typically not impairment focused and require nuanced, context sensitive assessment; early intervention and the benefits for promoting faster recovery; concussion in elite adult sport, where high performance environments shape motivation, reporting behaviour, and return to play pressures; and concussion in children and adolescents, who may demonstrate different symptom trajectories and developmental considerations. The discussion will also address former athletes (mostly former elite/professional athletes) with histories of repetitive head impacts, including what current evidence can—and cannot—tell us about long term cognitive, psychiatric, and neurodegenerative outcomes. A summary of evidence to date informing a diagnosis of Traumatic Encephalopathy Syndrome (TES) in life, and a determination of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy – Neuropathological Change (CTE-NC) at autopsy, will be outlined in the context of sport participation. The need for methodologically rigorous scientific enquiry to further inform the field is highlighted.
Updates will be provided on the evidence behind emerging innovations in SRC, including oculomotor assessments, biomarkers, and protective equipment, and remaining knowledge gaps will be addressed. The panel will consider where neuropsychology contributes meaningfully to multidisciplinary brain health programs across sporting codes, including the new clinical and research roles now being embedded within professional clubs.
Throughout the session, the speakers will emphasise the importance of clear communication of risk, uncertainty, and prognosis—particularly in a landscape shaped by intense public interest, evolving science, and medicolegal scrutiny. The keynote aims to equip clinicians with an evidence informed, balanced perspective on SRC and long term brain health, supporting rigorous and compassionate care across all levels of sport.