The balancing act - Physiotherapists' experiences of managing rugby-related concussion in the community

New Zealand Rugby (NZR) implemented a concussion management pathway (CMP) to improve management at the community level. Physiotherapists play an important role in the CMP.

This study explored physiotherapists' experiences in the management of community rugby-related concussion as part of the CMP.

We adopted a pragmatic, descriptive qualitative approach to explore perceptions of twenty-four physiotherapists involved in the CMP. Thematic analysis was used to analyze data.

Four themes represented participants' experiences: 1) 'walking the tight rope between player welfare and performance' described the balancing act between different attitudes and priorities of the various rugby stakeholders; 2) empowering physiotherapists' authority and responsibilities, described the influence of physiotherapists' authority within the team and concussion management responsibilities; 3) multi-directional communication, described the role of communication between multiple stakeholders; and 4) the influence of context, which included the complexity of concussion, concussion knowledge of the physiotherapists and team, resource support for the physiotherapist, and access to a medical doctor.

Physiotherapists had positive attitudes toward the CMP and are well-positioned to play an active role in the pathway. Priorities of other stakeholders, authority of the physiotherapist and the communication flow influences physiotherapists' ability to optimally manage players with concussion.