Combat-sport concussion management

What kind of evidence does this consensus statement provide for a standardized head-trauma assessment after a bout?

By Casey C. Sears (ORCID 0009-0000-6344-1143). Fight Medicine Research Institute, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States.

EA-003. Selected-paper appraisal of one published source. Version 1.2, . Not a systematic review, a clinical review or new data.

Source appraised

John Neidecker, Nitin K Sethi, Randolph Taylor, Raymond Monsell, Don Muzzi, Bruce Spizler, Larry Lovelace, Edmund Ayoub, Rick Weinstein, Joseph Estwanik, Patricio Reyes, Robert C Cantu, Barry Jordan, Margaret Goodman, John W Stiller, Jonathan Gelber, Robert Boltuch, Domenic Coletta, Angela Gagliardi, Stephen Gelfman, Patrick Golden, Nicholas Rizzo, Paul Wallace, Allan Fields, Calvin Inalsingh. Concussion management in combat sports: consensus statement from the Association of Ringside Physicians. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2019;53(6):328-333. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2017-098799

Library record FH-029, with the source’s population, rights and publication status. The authors, journal and DOI are the source’s own.

Design and content

This professional-society consensus statement combines a literature review and expert agreement on combat-sport concussion management. It addresses ringside assessment, post-bout reassessment, and return to fighting. The authors describe limited combat-sport evidence and adapt elements from wider concussion literature.

Methodological appraisal

The document presents expert consensus; it provides no prospective validation metrics for a unified standardized post-bout examination. For assessment-development research, extract the proposed examination domains and compare them with independently measured outcomes, inter-rater agreement, feasibility, and subsequent clinical events. Record the statement's publication date and review subsequent guidance before producing clinical education.

Fight Medicine Research Institute contribution

Classification of the evidence type and appraisal of its contribution to developing research questions for standardized post-bout head-trauma assessment.

Publication record

Output
EA-003 in the Fight Medicine Research Institute’s output register.
Type
Selected-paper appraisal. It covers one source and makes no claim about the wider literature.
Author

Casey C. Sears, Fight Medicine Research Institute, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-6344-1143

An LLM was utilized as a research tool with direct human oversight.

Version

Version 1.0, . First published.

Version 1.1, . Author, ORCID iD, output number and structured review record added. Funding statement corrected. The appraisal text is unchanged.

Version 1.2, . Second qualified review by David Williams, MD, recorded. The appraisal text is unchanged.

Method
One published source, appraised under policy P-05. Figures and limitations were checked against the source’s full text. Access basis: Full text at PubMed Central (PMC6579496).
Participants
None. The work used published literature only, with no human participants and no participant data.
Funding

Funding was received for this work. The funder is not yet named in this record. For the source’s own funding and disclosures, see the source.

Correction. This page earlier gave the funding as “None”. Funding was received for this work. The statement was corrected on 10 November 2026.

Conflicts
The author’s interests are listed under Disclosed interests.
Identifier
This appraisal has no DOI. Its permanent address is https://fightmed.institute/evidence-appraisals/combat-sport-concussion-management/. The DOI under “Source appraised” belongs to the source article.
Cite as
Sears CC. Combat-sport concussion management [selected-paper appraisal]. Version 1.2. Fight Medicine Research Institute; 2026. https://fightmed.institute/evidence-appraisals/combat-sport-concussion-management/
Source notices
No correction, retraction or expression of concern was found in PubMed, Crossref or Scite when this record was checked.

Review record

Each review of this appraisal is listed with who did it and what it covered. A review is credited only after it has been carried out.

  1. Editorial approval

    Completed

    Reviewer
    Casey C. Sears, Founder
    Expertise
    Combat-sports regulation; ringside clinical operations; emergency care; refereeing and judging
    Independence
    Not independent. The approving editor is the author.
    Scope
    Figures and limitations checked against the source’s full text. Approval to publish as a selected-paper appraisal.
    Date
    Decision
    Approved for publication
    Record
    Publication approval of 9 November 2026.

  2. Second qualified review

    Completed

    Reviewer
    David Williams, MD
    Expertise
    Sports medicine
    Independence
    Independent of the author, the Fight Medicine Research Institute, Fight Medicine Journal and its publisher, as stated by the author.
    Scope
    The appraisal checked against its source, as required by policy P-05.
    Date
    Decision
    Approved as written. No changes required.
    Record
    Reported to the output register by the author on 10 November 2026.

  3. Methods or statistical review

    Not assigned

    Policy P-05 assigns this review according to content. None has been assigned or carried out.

  4. Clinical review

    Not assigned

    Policy P-05 assigns this review according to content. None has been assigned or carried out. This appraisal is not clinical guidance.

The rules are in policy P-05. Approving editor: Casey C. Sears, Founder. An LLM was utilized as a research tool with direct human oversight.

Research program: Standardized ringside head-trauma assessment

Report an error in this appraisal: corrections@fightmed.institute