Education key to treating hockey head injuries

Warriors in the battle against hockey concussions received a clear message on how to proceed today.

“Education, education, education,” Dr. David Mulder, team doctor of the Montreal Canadiens, told a high-profile London Hockey Concussion Summit panel.

The panel included several of North America’s leading experts on the topic, former NHLers Eric Lindros, Jeff Beukeboom, Alyn McCauley and Marc Moore and former Canadian women’s team star Jennifer Botterill.

“Educate the players; reassure them they’ll be coming back,” said Mulder, an Order of Canada recipient in 1997, and a thoracic surgeon with an interest in trauma.

“Educate management,” Mulder continued. “The financial implications (of injuries) in pro hockey are enormous. “Educate the public. There are only 700 players in the NHL but there are thousands and thousands of young players out there,” he said.

The Canadian Medical Association Journal estimates Canada's annual hockey registration is about 500,000 males and females, and that 10 to 12 per cent of them — more than 50,000 players — will sustain a head injury, the most common being a concussion.

Paul Echlin, a London primary care doctor and chairperson of the one-day immersion course on concussions, said these figures cover only those injuries reported and could be low by 50 per cent.

Among the day’s topics, which ranged from defining concussions and their incidence and treatment to testimonials from the former players, a hot button was when players should be allowed to resume playing.

steve.coad@sunmedia.ca