Concussion Essentials Program

Concussion Essentials is an end-to-end comprehensive concussion service created jointly by the research team at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the Neurological Rehabilitation Group. Our model of care consists of Education, Physiotherapy and Psychology. Despite the community awareness of concussion increasing over recent years, community understanding and knowledge is poor. Around 30% of children and adults who sustain a concussion will still have symptoms at one month post injury. Our mission is to provide the appropriate individual education and guidance to reduce this number and identify those who will need specific tailored management early and reduce the burden of ongoing symptoms. To understand more about concussion essentials see https://www.concussionessentials.com/.

Below are some options to access our services:

Treatment By Tuesday Support Line

Evidence would support that one of the best prognostic indicators of recovery is contact with an expert within 7 days post-concussion. Treatment by Tuesday is a phone service run out of NRG by concussion trained clinicians to offer bespoke advice on how to manage early recovery and navigate a graded return to activity. Aimed to support early recovery post- concussion and give tailored individual advice on activity, return to school/work, return to sport and things like screen time and other questions. It is hoped that with better navigation of the first days and weeks post-concussion that we will reduce the number of people with persisting symptoms later in the recovery. This service is available for adults and children.

This service is currently available twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays. To book in follow this link.

Paper: Kontos et al. Association of time since injury to first clinic visit with recovery following a concussion. JAMA Neurology 2020

Neurological Rehabilitation Group physical service:

Neuro Rehab Group are a physiotherapy and exercise physiology service base in Melbourne with clinics in Mount Waverley, Ivanhoe and St Kilda. They are experts in the management of concussion across children to adults. They are a private service and can provide physical options for concussion management and refer into psychology teams as required. Community patients can self-refer at any time of the recovery journey.

For more information click here or phone (03) 98037755 for pricing and options. Wait times are generally less than 1 week.

School education:

Vicki and Katie offer a comprehensive school education program to teachers, parents and students. Education can be tailored to the school and the year level. They also can help develop school concussion protocols. If this is something you are interested in contact Katie through the clinic.

MCRI Concussion Clinic (in person):

Based at the MCRI in Parkville, this is a publicly run clinic available to children under 18 who are 3 weeks post-concussion. Earlier referral is possible through the phone call service. above if there is an escalation by the clinician on the calls. Currently the clinic runs on a Tuesday and Thursday. Initial appointments are with a physiotherapist and a psychologist the rehabilitation program consists of education, physiotherapy, psychology and exercise physiology. Appointments are subject to availability and wait list.

MCRI Concussion Clinic (telehealth):

Telehealth service for children under the age of 18 who live more than 2 hours from the MCRI. The model of care is the same as the in-person clinic, treatment is offered over telehealth. Patients must have access to a computer or tablet (not phone) and a quiet space.

Follow this link to refer into MCRI trial clinic.

History of the NRG/MCRI Partnership

Through her concussion work Katie build strong clinical links with Prof Vicki Anderson (Neuropsychologist) and Gavin Davis (Neurosurgeon). In 2015 Katie was invited to be involved in a grant opportunity through the MCRI at this point in time the MCRI team lead by Vicki were observing children after concussion and their recovery trajectory. This was the beginning of a long, rewarding partnership between Katie and the NRG team with the MCRI.

Results from the longitudinal study supported other international studies in that 30% of the children were still symptomatic at 1 month post injury, there was no physical biomarker such as brain imaging that accounted for this delayed recovery and that parental anxiety was a contributing factor to recovery. Being clinicians, the natural next step was to develop a rehabilitation program for the 30% of children who remain symptomatic and so the Concussion Essentials (CE) program was formed.

Over the next 10 years Katie and Vicki with the MCRI and NRG team developed a rehabilitation program consisting of physiotherapy, neuropsychology and education to manage these children with persisting symptoms. The program was piloted with great results and so they moved towards a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT). The successful RCT was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2026 with the conclusion of “Individualised, multidisciplinary treatment is associated with accelerated recovery in young people with PPCS. Implementation of such approaches should be considered in routine clinical care of concussion”. During the process of data collection the Concussion Essentials plus (CE+) protocol was developed as a step out trial for children and youth with chronic concussion symptoms, one again with excellent results.

Over the years of the partnership different physiotherapists and exercise physiologists at NRG have been involved in delivering the assessment and treatment within the Concussion Essentials program. In 2024 the team opened a clinic at the MCRI as part of an implementation study to translate the research findings from the CE and CE+ for clinical impact. Bianca Charles has played a key role and lead the physiotherapy and wider multidisciplinary team to have a fully operational clinic which has lead to hundreds of children returning to school and sport symptom free post-concussion.

Another project along the journey has been the development of the ‘HeadCheck’ app. This is freely available and a decision support app to assist a person after a head knock, first aiders, trainers, coaches, teachers, carers and family to recognise the signs and symptoms of a concussion, seek medical attention and provide recovery guidance for of concussion or suspected concussion. HeadCheck is evidence-based and consistent with the Australian Football League (AFL), the Australian Institute of Sport concussion management policy and the tools published by the International Concussion in Sports Group. Developed by leading child concussion experts at the AFL, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) and the Royal Children’s Hospital, HeadCheck helps coaches, first aiders, teachers, carers and family recognise the signs of concussion to determine whether medical attention is required and how to manage the safe return to school, play and organised sport.

The team have more research on the horizon with expansion of the rehabilitation program for children and youth with neurodiversity, children under 8 years old and management of the patients who are resistant to the CE model.

For more information on the research click here.