Take concussions seriously

One enduring element of sports has always been playing through pain. We immortalize those who keep going out there and getting it done, such as Bobby Baun scoring a crucial game-winning goal on a broken foot in Game Six of the Stanley Cup Finals or Kirk Gibson swatting a “limp-off” pinch-hit game-winning home run in the World Series despite injuries to both legs. We often try to emulate them as well, even when it may not be the wisest decision. In the softball tournament I headed to this weekend, this was most evident. Our star second baseman sprained her ankle before the tournament and was limping around on crutches Friday, but she played anyway and turned in an amazing performance. Our left fielder tore up his leg sliding into third base in the final game and our first baseman jammed her finger badly early in the tournament, but you never heard a complaint from them until the games were done. A pitcher on another team continued on despite a hand covered in blood. I’ve even been known for such actions from time to time, such as a couple of weeks ago when I broke my nose during a softball practice but trotted back out onto the field as soon as the blood stopped gushing.

This bravado is all well and good, and in most cases, it doesn’t have negative long-term effects. The cases where it does are unfortunate, but I don’t generally have a problem with people trying to play through pain, as long as they’re aware of the dangers. This behaviour becomes a massive issue in the case of concussions, though. Sports leagues, whether recreational or professional, need to recognize the difference between concussions and ordinary injuries and act to prevent long-term harm to their players.

Unfortunately, most leagues don’t have good concussion policies at the moment. One clear example came this past weekend in the CFL, when Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Michael Bishop ran into one of his own blockers and lay motionless on the turf. He was helped off the field, but was back out there for the next series. The move wasn’t even criticized by TSN’s knowledgeable commentators and analysts, one of whom, Matt Dunigan, had his own career ended by concussions.

The CFL is far from the exception to the rule. Hockey fans probably remember Martin Havlat of the Chicago Blackhawks, a player with an extensive injury history. Havlat was carted off the ice after receiving a massive hit in Game Three of this year’s Stanley Cup Finals, but was back out there for Game Four. He took another hit in that game and left after just eight minutes of ice time, leading many to question if he should have played at all.

These situations are far too common in the world of sports. A 2007 Toronto Star feature by Randy Starkman found that at least 30 NHL players since 1996 had their careers ended by concussions. I spoke with Alyn McCauley, one such player, earlier this year.

McCauley was a talented forward who played 488 NHL games with the Toronto Maple Leafs, San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings. Thanks to a string of injuries including three major concussions and several more less severe concussions, he was forced to retire in 2006. This past year, he served as an assistant coach with the Queen’s Golden Gaels Canadian university team, was a featured speaker at a concussion conference in London, Ontario and helped to organize concussion awareness events.

McCauley’s most interesting comments were about how many players don’t realize the severity of concussions and attempt to fight through it. One player on the Queen’s team last year got concussed in one game but didn’t report it, and then got hit hard again the next day.

“The avenues that players are given or channels that they’re given to report injuries and such need to be better,” he said. “We had no knowledge. It kind of made me sick to my stomach. This player didn’t know what he was really risking and we didn’t either. It kind of got me thinking along the lines that we should really communicate with these players, ‘This is why you really need to sit out and make sure that you’re okay before you get back in there because we’re talking about paralysis, or even death with second-hit, second-concussion syndrome when your brain is bruised or even bleeding.’”

McCauley said the desire to play through pain regardless of the long-term consequences is typical of many hockey players, including himself.

“Hockey players want to be that way. They want to be tough and fight through things and put the team first. It’s that kind of mentality, and that’s great. As a coach, I like players that put the team first, but in certain circumstances, that’s not okay. You have to think of yourself and your well-being. You don’t want it to affect the rest of your life.”

Unfortunately, NHL administrators are still trapped in the dark ages when it comes to concussions. Starkman spoke to NHL vice-president (hockey operations) Colin Campbell for his feature with some rather interesting results. Among his other duties, Campbell is the NHL’s discipline czar, responsible for handing down suspensions when players cross the line. Thus, you’d hope he’d be well-versed on the dangers of head shots and concussions. You’d be wrong, though. Campbell’s sympathetic, understanding reponse to the issue of career-ending concussions? He said the Star’s numbers were inflated and many hockey players were just faking it.

“Some are legitimate,” Campbell told the Star. “I think some you might find aren’t legitimate. … I think there’s a small percentage, not a great percentage, of players who use it as an excuse, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve got a concussion.’ They can milk it. It’s a hard thing to really say that you haven’t, you know, if you’re trying to get some extra insurance money out of it to get paid an extra year or something.”

It’s not just hockey that has a problem, though. Concussions are endemic throughout sports, but few players treat them with the degree of severity they deserve. It’s not always the typical hard-hitting sports that put you in danger for concussions, either. According to a 2008 NCAA study, female ice hockey players get concussions more frequently than male football players despite rules against bodychecking. Women’s soccer and basketball also saw high levels of concussions.

When I wrote my first feature on concussions, I was told that at least 25 Queen’s athletes across a variety of sports sustained concussions in the 2006-2007 season. That may even be on the low side, as many of the more “minor” concussions often aren’t recognized as such by athletes or reported to coaches. This is problematic, as these so-called “minor” concussions can still do plenty of damage. As you pick up more concussions, it takes less force to give you a concussion and each one can be more damaging. Moreover, the amount of time you’re knocked out for isn’t indicative of concussion severity; as described in my above article, that’s determined by how long it takes you to become symptom-free.

How should concussions be handled? Well, the Queen’s policy is actually pretty solid; it was revamped a few years ago to match what was agreed upon at the 2004 2nd International Conference on Concussion in Sport in Prague. It’s deliberately rigid to prevent players from returning too soon. Athletes are allowed to undertake no physical activity at all while symptoms remain. They can then start the road to recovery with light exercise, such as walking or riding a stationary bike. After that, they can go to sport-specific exercise such as running or skating. Non-contact practice is next, followed by full practice participation and then game participation. If symptoms reoccur at any level, players have to drop back to the previous level and try again after a 24-hour waiting period.

In some ways, it seems a bit unfair to keep athletes out for so long. The temptation is to let them make the call as to when they can go back. However, there’s so much pressure on athletes to perform and play through pain so they’ll be thought of as good, tough team guys. They also can’t make good decisions while suffering from concussion symptoms. Allowing coaches to make the decision on when to bring players back doesn’t help much either; many would be responsible, but some would either be too concerned about winning or too easily swayed by a player’s petitions.

In my mind, an athlete’s return from a concussion needs to be handled by medical staff, and a player should never be pushed to come back early. Leagues, teams, coaches and individual athletes all need to recognize the severity of concussions and act accordingly. To me, it’s better to have an overly-rigid policy than one that allows the likes of Bishop and Havlat to put themselves in dangerous situations. Playing through pain can be a positive thing, but it should be out of the question for players with concussions. You only get one brain; taking care of it is more important than anything you can accomplish on the field of play.

Tags: CFL, concussions, injuries, nhl, soccer
Categories: Daily Specials, Non-Alcoholic

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 11:00 am and is filed under Daily Specials, Non-Alcoholic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.