A CULTURE THAT NEEDS CHANGING

EX-CFL DEFENSIVE LINEMAN WARNS ON CONCUSSIONS

Din Montreal uring the course of his sixyear CFL career, defensive lineman Tom Hipsz underwent eight surgeries. He suffered a torn bicep, blew out his shoulder twice and was finally forced to retire before the 2002 season when he ruptured an Achilles tendon.

“In the morning, it takes a little while to get the body going. I can’t play pick-up basketball, my body wouldn’t co-operate,” said Hipsz, 45, who spent three full seasons with the Alouettes during the late 1990s. He was traded by the Als to the B.C. Lions, and would also spend time with the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats before leaving the game.

But Hipsz, a student athletic adviser at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ont., has bigger fears than the aches and pains. Like many former professional football players, Hipsz believes he suffered at least two concussions while playing with the Als that may not have been properly diagnosed.

Hipsz has degrees in history and sociology. Upon his retirement, he returned to school, getting a masters in education. He’s cognizant of the issue of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) — a neurodegenerative disease found in athletes, mainly football players who donated their brains for research.

Doctors, with great regularity, are discovering that concussive and sub-concussive impact from repeated collisions have been linked to brain trauma, including CTE. In July, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a report stating CTE was diagnosed in 177 former football players, or nearly 90 per cent of brains studied.

“When you’re reading this stuff, it scares the living daylights out of you,” said Hipsz, who has a six-year-old daughter. “There’s an element of forgetfulness (he experiences) sometimes. That’s a fear. And then you just wonder — is it the absent-minded professor thing or is it too many blows to the head? That’s a fear. Overall, my quality of life is good, but there’s always the concern in the back of your head ... what’s going on in there?”

Hipsz recalls two games in particular while playing for the Als. Montreal met Hamilton in 1999. next game was in Calgary, he remembered, and there were conflicting medical opinions. One doctor didn’t want him to play, another stated he could. Hipsz decided against dressing against the Stampeders, although he practised without pads in the days leading up to the game.

Hipsz bears no grudge against the Als, the team’s medical staff or the CFL. And he’s not seeking any financial compensation. Rather, he decided to contact Postmedia in an attempt to change the culture and alert the thousands of players who have followed.

“I was fighting tooth and nail with the organization over whether it was a concussion in the first place,” he said. “That was the kind of stuff that was going on. They announced a number of health-and-safety initiatives before the 2016 season, including an injury spotter who will monitor every game. This season, Edmonton quarterback Mike Reilly was removed from a game for a series — over his objection and that of Eskimos head coach Jason Maas — after a blow to his head.

Last season, the league also announced that any player could get a second opinion from an independent physician with concussion expertise when the player had been diagnosed with a concussion or related symptoms.

And last month, new CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie announced, effective immediately, it was eliminating full-contact padded practices during the season, although he denied the new policies were being implemented specifically to reduce concussions.

Before the announcement, 17 padded practices were allowed during the season. Starting in 2018, the CFL will extend its schedule by a week, creating a third bye week for every team.

Hipsz said he’s thankful it was only the Achilles injury — he still has bone fragments in his ankle — that forced his retirement. Otherwise, he would have continued playing and, by extension, probably suffered more concussions.

“It’s the culture of these sports that forces medical professionals to do wrong, to go against their oath,” Hipsz said. “They should feel free to make diagnoses as they would on the general population.

“Sprained ankle? You have to suck it up more than the average person. Sore shoulder? I get it. But when it’s a head injury . ... ”