Physiotherapist Osman Ahmed has welcomed the first learning day on the topic of handling trauma incidents for clinicians working with Para footballers, which he hopes will be followed by many similar initiatives in the future.

Dr Ahmed, who is the physiotherapy lead for FA Para Football, said: ‘It has been fantastic to be able to share this learning day with all of the physios and doctors that work across our Para Football.’

The Trauma Medical Management in Football Reaccreditation (ParaATMMiF-R) course – the first of its kind focusing on responses to trauma incidents in Para football – was held earlier this month as St George’s Park, the FA’s national football centre at Burton-upon-Trent in Staffordshire.

‘The FA Medical Team have been brilliant in their approach to the day, and it has been a really rewarding experience to work collaboratively with them to create content that is bespoke to the needs of the players that we work with in our para pathway,’ Dr Ahmed noted.

In an article published on the England Football Learning website, Dr Ahmed added: ‘We hope that our para-specific advanced courses will be able to grow in the future to serve a wider audience, with the ultimate aim of benefiting the para players that we work with to deliver world-class medical care to them.’

The course attracted 19 current FA physiotherapists and doctors who work across the seven England football Para teams which include: Blind Men’s and Blind Women’s, Deaf Men’s and Deaf Women’s, Cerebral Palsy (men’s), Partially Sighted (men’s) and Powerchair (mixed) teams.

All of them had already completed their ATMMiF, which is the FA’s highest medical qualification which is designed specifically for doctors and physiotherapists responsible for the pre-hospital management of footballers. The Para-ATMMiF is an extension of this learning, with attendees being exposed to scenario practice with specific reference and application on how to respond to trauma situations involving Para-athletes in the best way. 

Each scenario follows a normal refresher for the ATMMiF but concentrates specifically on the problems faced by Para-athletes that differ from those faced by able-bodied athletes. The cohort at St George’s Park was taken through these in small groups, guided by members of The FA medical tutor workforce. Groups included a mixture of individuals who work across the different Para teams at varying seniority levels; this fostered an environment of collaborative learning and peer feedback.

All medics working within football from doctor, physio or sports therapist, will do a pitch side course of a different level with ATMMiF being the highest

Tom Leggett, a course participant on the course who is the Cerebral Palsy team’s and doctor, said: ‘All medics working within football from doctor, physio or sports therapist, will do a pitch side course of a different level with ATMMiF being the highest. But within the current format there’s nothing specific around disability or Para-athletes and a lot of things might not be applicable.

‘That’s why I think it’s so important that The FA are leading the way with this course, for us all to be able to apply our learnings within our day-to-day practices and I hope it sets a trend to improve the healthcare provision around Para-athletes in Para sports,’ Dr Leggett added.

The development of this course has been in gestation since 2019, when members of the FA medical education team, in conjunction with the FA Para football medical and Physiotherapy leads, spotted a gap for more specialised training in relation to the England Para teams and how medical staff can be best equipped to respond to emergencies on the pitch in Para football.

Future plans

After gathering feedback from the first cohort involved The FA hopes to develop the Para-ATMMiF as a bolt-on to the current ATMMiF qualification, offering it once or twice year. Eventually the vision is a to establish a standalone two-day specific Para-ATMMiF course and there are hopes beyond that to open it up to all governing bodies.

Lisa Hodgson, FA medical education lead, said: ‘We’ve put on a one-day refresher for our already qualified ATMMiF staff across our seven Para-squads. This is something we’ve been working on since 2019 and it’s exciting to see it come together – we’re one of the first governing bodies in the world to offer such training and there’s other sports that are interested in partnering with us on developing this further; it’s exciting to be leading the way!’

Dr Hodgson added: ‘It’s really important that we establish more courses like this, we should be thinking about the differences because there are differences in treating players across Para football, they all present unique nuances that all medics need to be able to address.’