Body Checking Increases Risk of Bain Injury
Perhaps this new research should have been published in the Journal of Common Sense (if there was such a thing they probably wouldn’t have enough subscribers).
A new study of minor hockey players has found that the incidents of brain injury in 9 and 10 year olds has increased ten times since Hockey Canada decided to allow body checking at a younger age in minor hockey.
Nova Scotia has had a mandatory helmet law for motorcycles (and bicycles) for many years. But there are some jurisdictions in the United States (Florida and Texas for example) where motorcycle helmets are not required.
There are “mountains” of studies that prove that helmets reduce the risk of death and brain injury after a motorcycle accident. But opponents to mandatory helmet laws have claimed for some time that helmets increase the risk of spinal injury because of the torsion laced on the neck by a heavy helmet.
This is awesome! Researchers have found a simple test that can be conducted in less than a minute to accurately detect the early signs of concussion.
Undiagnosed concussions are a serious probem since the brain damaging effects can be cumulative. Recent injuries in professional sports like hockey (Syd Crosby) football (Green Bay’s Aaron Rogers) and baseball (MVP candidate Justin Morneau) have raised public awareness of the damaging effects of concussion.
But more needs to be done and anything that makes it easier to diagnose the problem means that more athletes will get the chance to receive proper treatment before suffering a potentially debilitating brain injury.
Darren Cossar, Executive Director of Hockey Nova Scotia, has announced that the organization has approved a new policy to address concussions in children playing minor hockey.
The Globe & Mail reported Cossar as saying: “We’ve finalized concussion policy for return to play…the onus is on the coach that any player who is suspected of having a concussion has to be examined by a doctor before returning to play.”
Hockey Canada recently released the results of the Hockey Concussion Education Project which revealed a frequency of concussion in minor hockey that was 7x higher then previously thought. The authors of the report called concussions an “epidemic”.
It looks like amateur sports are finally starting to get the message. Concussions are serious injuries that can have permanent and lasting consequences.
The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) has issued a new physician’s statement with five recommendations for management of concussions in sports.
Concussion = Brain Injury
As I have explained here before, a concussion is, in fact, a minor traumatic brain injury.
According to a medical study released in Toronto on Monday, 25% of junior hockey players on the two teams that were the subject of the study suffered concussions (minor traumatic brain injuries) last year.
One of the co-authors of this study, Dr. Paul Echlin called the results “alarming”.
Multiple Injuries
Perhaps the biggest myth of brain injury is that mild traumatic brain injuries are not disabling.
They Look Okay
Since persons with traumatic brain injuries do not look obviously injured and many can function reasonable well in society, there is a common misperception that a traumatic brain injury is not as disabling as more obvious physical injuries.
Concussions Have Long Term Effects
It was once thought that the effects of concussion, (mild traumatic brain injury) were temporary. Doctors assumed patients could recover from the effects of concussion after a few minutes or hours.
However a famous research study published in Neurology, the Journal of the American Academy of Neurologists, found that after one year, 10% to 15% of mild traumatic brain injury patients still had not fully recovered. In fact, the study determined that many patients had more symptoms than immediately after the accident.
Children Vulnerable to Head Injury
Children do not lose consciousness as easily as adults. Because they don’t get “knocked out” as often as adults, a myth developed that children did not suffer brain injury as easily or as often adults.
Another myth about children and brain injury is that children are more resilient than adults and that they recover or “bounce back” faster after a traumatic brain injury.
Last week the British Columbia Supreme Court released its decision in More v. Bauer Nike Hockey Inc.
Helmet Met Standards
In 2004 the plaintiff was a 17 year old hockey player. He was wearing a helmet certified by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA). The helmet met all of the CSA standards.
