Released in conjunction with the Australian Medical Association, the new AIS guidelines represent the first time the elite sports performance agency has sought to differentiate concussion between junior and senior athletes.

It comes after the AIS recorded a 60 per cent increase in sport-related concussion hospital admissions over the last decade.

Chief medical officer at the AIS Doctor David Hughes said the move by the sporting body send an important message to sporting clubs and codes about dealing with children and concussion.

“When dealing with concussion it is a lot about how you interpret the literature, and there’s enough information now to say kids take longer to recover and we don’t think its correct that they should be treated the same as adults,” Dr Hughes said.

The advice from the nation’s peak sporting body follows AFL Goldfields’ introduction of Caremonkey, an online system designed to keep a digital record of each players medical history which can then help inform clubs on the best course of action in the case of injury.

However AFL Goldfields does not offer any specific guidelines on how long a player should sit out following concussion.  The body’s guidelines also do not advocate for the wearing of helmets among young players, which is mandatory among some other junior football competitions around the state.

AFL Goldfields commercial and regional operations manager Aaron Nunn said while the regional governance body had worked hard to ensure clubs took the issue of concussion among juniors seriously, it was up to the clubs themselves to take the appropriate steps following an incident.

“If a kid shows any signs of concussion then we instruct the clubs not to put the kid back on the ground and to seek medical treatment immediately,” Nunn said.  

“But it comes back to interpretation of whether or not a kid is concussed and all we can do is implore clubs to take the matter seriously.”