The new and improved concussion thread

[LadyStanley]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/spor...ss1&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Athletes of all ages who are suspected of suffering a concussion should be evaluated by a specialist before they return to sports, a major doctors group said Monday in the latest sign of concern over potential lasting damage from head injuries.

The statement by the American Academy of Neurology follows rules already adopted in college sports and pro football aimed at preventing and better treating blows to the head in competition. Research involving NFL players has suggested repeated concussions may have long-term consequences, such as dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
...
The neurology academy is the most authoritative medical group when it comes to concussions. And its new advice sweeps across all ages and types of athletes. The academy also calls for a certified athletic trainer at every sports event and even practices where there is risk of concussion, something that would be a dramatic change in youth sports.

Having a certified trainer might help, but will definitely provide more jobs/volunteer opportunities. (And add to the bottom line, negatively, for many non-pro sports.)

 

[hockey diva]

I'm a nurse practitioner and do alot of school/sports physicals. I have started including information on concussions in my little lecture about healthy habits and injury treatment.

 

[Jeffrey93]

If people put half the effort into designing equipment to prevent concussions as they do trying to show that more and more athletes suffer them.....we'd be much better off.

I saw on Hockey Night in Canada a helmet design that used small cylinders of padding instead of flat padding in helmets. They cushioned the blow more and did not lose their form like normal padding does.

That's the first and last time I heard of any idea to modify the equipment to limit the number of concussions. Instead there are just more and more studies done to try to show how many concussions are suffered.

Great....we're able to identify that a player has suffered a concussion after a slight bump against the glass. What are we doing to prevent those minor concussions?

 

[Jeffrey93]

Here....let's talk about this and try to figure out why it gets about .1% of the attention that studies showing how many hockey players suffer concussions seem to get.

Typical media...and really...typical society. Focusing more on the problem instead of a solution to the problem.

I get it...hockey players suffer concussions. That's not news to me. If 20 players in the OHL suffer 50 of them or 250 players suffer 900 of them....don't care. Figure out a way to reduce the number.

 

[Jeffrey93]

The Messier Project

 

[Dream Big]

"Concussion rate in junior hockey 7 times higher than previously reported: study"

http://home.mytelus.com/telusen/por...ews/capfeed/national/TG931.xml&CatID=National

 

[LadyStanley]

http://www.milehighhockey.com/2010/11/3/1792727/concussions-what-the-heck-is-going-on

SBN Colorado Avs blogger "looks into" concussion after long list of 'Lanche are out with concussion/head issues.

 

[LadyStanley]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/spor...ss1&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

G&M article on concussion conference. Including youth/junior hockey player who had at least half a dozen concussions. Was touted as possible 1st round draft pick and didn't get that far due to complications from concussions.

Their messages, in a nutshell: You don’t have to lose consciousness to suffer a concussion (they can be tricky to diagnose, and are often accompanied by neck, nasal and dental injuries); any time one is suspected the player must be immediately withdrawn from the game or practice; no player should ever return to full contact until he or she is completely asymptomatic and cleared by a doctor; children suffer greater damage than adults; helmets can’t protect against the injury, full face shields don’t hurt; and the evidence on mouthguards is inconclusive.

 

[billycanuck]

I know the largest concern in hockey related concussions is for players, but I was wondering if anyone knows of anything being done for goaltenders? I had 5 concussions in my goaltending career; 1 from a fight, 2 from slap shots, and 2 from being run into the net and having my head hit the crossbar and post.

The fighting one was my own fault granted, but being run into the back of the net knocked me out both times and there isn't a lot of protection on the back of the helmet.

I am 27 now and starting to feel the long term effects; memory loss, emotional instability, headaches, sleepless nights, etc. Scary stuff really. I am hoping that goalie masks could be looked at to increase protection.

 

[CC Chiefs*]

I know the largest concern in hockey related concussions is for players, but I was wondering if anyone knows of anything being done for goaltenders? I had 5 concussions in my goaltending career; 1 from a fight, 2 from slap shots, and 2 from being run into the net and having my head hit the crossbar and post.

The fighting one was my own fault granted, but being run into the back of the net knocked me out both times and there isn't a lot of protection on the back of the helmet.

I am 27 now and starting to feel the long term effects; memory loss, emotional instability, headaches, sleepless nights, etc. Scary stuff really. I am hoping that goalie masks could be looked at to increase protection.

Not to be a ass. But that's the attraction for some. The big head removing hit. Maybe just maybe the OHL does it right. The keep your head up argument is getting old with armour the players are wearing today.

 

[Scottrocks58*]

Perhaps its time once again to consider going to European sized rinks. I know how unpopular that is around here, but the majority of concussions do not occur out on the open ice. Less play along the boards and more play on the open ice would go a long way towards lowering the amount of concussions suffered by the players.

 

[Dogbert*]

Not to be a ass. But that's the attraction for some. The big head removing hit. Maybe just maybe the OHL does it right. The keep your head up argument is getting old with armour the players are wearing today.

Or they could just get rid of the armour?

 

[CC Chiefs*]

Or they could just get rid of the armour?

I agree. One or the other. Get rid of the armour or the head hits.

 

[kdb209]

Perhaps its time once again to consider going to European sized rinks. I know how unpopular that is around here, but the majority of concussions do not occur out on the open ice. Less play along the boards and more play on the open ice would go a long way towards lowering the amount of concussions suffered by the players.

Nope. That horse left the barn in the 90's with the wave of new arena construction.

There is no way an NHL team will pay the cost to retrofit their arenas for larger ice (and sacrifice expensive lower bowl seats in the process) in order to reduce concussions.

It could have been done over time if the NHL made that decision in 1990 - but not now.

 

[LadyStanley]

http://nhl.fanhouse.com/2010/12/01/pat-lafontaine-brings-knowledge-concern-to-concussion-discussio/

Botta with LaFontaine on concussions

 

[LadyStanley]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylt=AtwkBV1mbIm2Lg8st.WsSLd7vLYF?slug=nc-concussions.dec3
Yahoo Sports on concussions

When Hockey Canada held a concussion seminar last month in Montreal, the participants received a packet that included a brief welcome letter from Ken Dryden – Hall of Fame goaltender, Member of Parliament in Canada.
Dryden wrote about how we think back on the past and wonder why we could have been so wrong about things. He mentioned slavery, the absence of rights for women and smoking. Then he went to sports. Why did football and hockey players go so long without wearing helmets? Why did hockey goalies go so long without wearing masks?
Then he wondered what people will think of us 50 years from now, and he mentioned head injuries in sports – their short- and long-term effects.
http://global.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=15q...11475d5s1/*http://info.yahoo.com/relevantads/

“Knowing what they know then, some hints of which we know now, these people of the future will wonder, ‘What could they have been thinking? Why didn’t they do more?’ †Dryden wrote.

 

[LadyStanley]

http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/hockey/comments/dangerous_blind_sided_hits/

Video

Dr. Ruben Echemendia, the Director of the NHL/NHLPA Concussion Working Group, talks about the danger of blind-sided hits.

 

[LadyStanley]

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=545325

NHL feature on how players need to be "honest" (WRT symptoms, etc.) to receive proper treatment.

 

[LadyStanley]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=lebrun_pierre&id=5902671

Video on new shoulder pads, plus discussion on how country of origin/language impacts reporting/identification of concussions.

Echemendia's group has determined that players from different nationalities and cultural backgrounds report concussions in different manners.
"We know what is the typical symptom pattern for the typical NHL player by their language of origin," Echemendia said. "So, for example, if you have one group of individuals who tend not to report a lot of symptoms and all of sudden there's a player from that group who has reported a lot of symptoms, that's something you better stand up and take knowledge of and pay attention to. Because that player is really trying to tell you that something's wrong here."
Different cultures also put more or less importance around different symptoms, Echemendia explained. One culture may not consider a headache to be important and won't report it, but they will report dizziness. Meanwhile, headaches can be one of the indicators for post-concussion syndrome.

 

[LadyStanley]

http://www.versus.com/nhl/videos/nhl-overtime-headshots/

Versus' NHL Overtime takes on the issue of headshots (video)

 

[LadyStanley]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...ss1&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Lacrosse, or baggataway, as it was once known, is no stranger to violence and injury. Blood runs from the game’s role in the capture of Fort Michilimackinac nearly 250 years ago to recent decades in the lacrosse boxes of small-town and suburban Canada. I grew up in one such community myself – Huntsville, Ont. – where hockey was the winter game, lacrosse the summer game, and lacrosse considered the tougher of the two sports to survive.
But no more. Something happened in recent years that has seen a flip-flop between the two national games, with lacrosse dealing with its violence and injury issues and hockey seemingly without the foggiest notion of what to do – even the answer is as obvious as simply saying no, no more.
...
The league now has Rule 77 dealing with “dangerous contact to the head” and a myriad of other rules and regulations that have dramatically changed the way the game is played around the head, without significantly affecting how it is played around the net.

Including "significant" (relatively) fines and game suspensions.

 

[LadyStanley]

http://www.mercurynews.com/rss/ci_17189044

And still players are not clear on rule 48, etc. Thought their hits were clean, but got suspended

Perhaps it might just be easiest to ban all hits to the head. Then, there's no grey area.

 

[billycanuck]

Savard has another concussion. IMO, retirement is his best bet for a happy life after hockey.

 

[LadyStanley]

http://www.calgarysun.com/sports/hockey/2011/01/29/17082801.html

With Crosby missing ASG due to concussion, BOG discussed head hits @ ASG meetings.

"Commissioner Gary Bettman will talk about it in his state of the union address Saturday night."

 

[LadyStanley]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/spor...ss1&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

USA Hockey to consider banning body checking for youth players

USA Hockey is considering a proposal that would make bodychecking illegal for all players under 13, an initiative sure to ignite the growing debate over the proper time to introduce contact at the grassroots level.
The proposed measure was raised at USA Hockey’s annual winter meeting in Colorado Springs, Colo., and according to the association’s senior director of hockey development, Kevin McLaughlin, it was not designed primarily to address safety issues.
“It is a skill development initiative first,” said McLaughlin, who explained that his organization’s research found that bodychecking at the peewee level was significantly distracting players from improving their skills at a critical time in their development. Too often, he said, players of that age were either too focused on hitting or trying to avoid a hit."
...
The USA Hockey proposals, which also seek to penalize all contact to the head and neck area, will be voted on at the organization’s annual congress in June.
According to McLaughlin, a series of research studies into head injuries that culminated with a concussion summit at the Mayo Clinic last fall also reinforced the need for the initiatives. McLaughlin cited a seminal report conducted by University of Calgary researcher Carolyn Emery and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association as pivotal as well.
Emery’s report followed more than 2,000 peewee players – half from Alberta leagues, where bodychecking was permitted, and the rest from Quebec, where it wasn’t. The results show a significant difference in the number of head injuries, with 73 concussions among Alberta players over the 2007-2008 season, compared to 20 in Quebec. There were 14 severe concussions in Alberta, versus four in Quebec.
“What we find is that an 11-year-old brain is more susceptible to concussion,” McLaughlin said. “The 11- and 12-year-old brain is not cognitively developed to anticipate being hit. So if you can’t anticipate it and you can’t protect yourself, you’re putting yourself in a predicament to suffer a more severe injury.”