Medical

The BHA is responsible for setting and enforcing standards of medical care for jockeys across all licence types and other participants. These are co-ordinated by the Chief Medical Adviser.

Injury monitoring

BHA maintains a database of all jockeys’ injuries, including those incurred off the racecourse, which is accessible by all racecourse doctors. BHA monitors the progress of injured jockeys to ensure that they only return to race ride once it is safe for them to do so.

Head injuries are often the most dangerous, and therefore there is a particular procedure in place for jockeys returning to race ride following concussion.

Raceday medical care

BHA sets the standards of medical care that each racecourse must provide on every race day, carries out regular medical inspections of racecourses to ensure that the Instructions are being complied with and ensures that all training, revalidation and registration of Racecourse Medical Officers is kept up to date.

Medical Standards of Fitness to Ride

Published by BHA, these apply to all jockeys, whether professional or amateur.

Jockeys Protective Equipment

As well as monitoring jockeys’ injuries, The Chief Medical Adviser is also involved in the evaluation of personal protective equipment (PPE), namely body protectors and helmets.

Racecourse Physiotherapy

The Jockeys Injury Management (JIM) Team is administered by the PJA and is jointly funded by jockeys, racecourses, BHA and the IJF.  Most racecourses will have a member of the JIM Team in attendance to provide physiotherapy services to jockeys.

Details of team members are available on the PJA website along with dates of when they are on-course, which is also published in the Racing Post.

Medical resources

This section contains a range of useful medical resources for all jockeys including those from overseas, along with essential forms and reports for medical professionals.