ONUS ON PLAYERS TO ADMIT INJURY
McGill forum told athletes minimize problem in order to keep playing
Dr. J. Scott Delaney was one of the keynote speakers at the Heads Up public lecture dealing with concussions Friday night at McGill University, and he told a story that highlights one of the problems when it comes to dealing with head injuries in sports.
Delaney, an MUHC medical expert and team physician for the Montreal Alouettes and Impact, spoke about one of the first games he spent on the sidelines as a team doctor for the McGill Redmen football team. About 10 minutes before halftime, one of the Redmen players took a huge hit and was taken off the field.
Delaney said the player passed all the concussion tests on the sidelines and wanted to go back on the field. Delaney told him to sit out until halftime. About three minutes before halftime, Delaney walked behind the bench where the player was sitting beside a teammate who asked how he was feeling.
“Dude, I have the worst freaking headache of my life right now,” Delaney heard the player saying.
That wasn’t what the player had told the doctor.
Delaney said one of the problems with concussions in sports is that athletes want to play and many wrongly think it’s not dangerous to keep playing after suffering a concussion. He added that football players, especially, don’t want to be known as a guy with an “eggshell brain.”
David Mulder has been a Canadiens team doctor for more than 50 years and said that players lying about their injuries is one of the biggest obstacles sports physicians face.
“Everybody wants to play and stay in the lineup,” Mulder said. “They’ve got someone behind them waiting to take their place. It’s not only at the pro level...it’s at every level.”
The Canadiens’ Andrew Shaw missed 14 games this season after suffering a concussion during a game against Boston on Dec. 12 when he took a big first-period hit to the head from the Bruins’ Torey Krug. Shaw went through the NHL concussion protocol and returned to play after the first intermission. He skipped an optional practice two days later and when asked if he had a headache responded jokingly: “You have to have a brain to have a headache!”
It wasn’t so funny two days later when Shaw missed an optional morning skate before a game against the San Jose Sharks and later that day the Canadiens announced he would be out of the lineup with concussion-like symptoms.
Mulder said Shaw went through the standard NHL concussion protocol before he was allowed back on the ice. Mulder said Shaw had to go to the “quiet room” and was then put through a complete neurological exam and a SCAT test (Sport Concussion Assessment Tool) to see how his results compared with an earlier baseline test that provides doctors with comparative data should a player suffer a concussion. Mulder said Shaw also went through a King-Devick Test that measures hand-eye coordination.
“He passed all of them,” Mulder said. “That’s the deceiving thing about concussions. He was fine, he went back and played.”
But a couple of days later Shaw had a headache that wouldn’t go away, which was followed by photophobia, a condition in which bright lights hurt the eyes. Mulder said at that point Shaw had a “fullblown” concussion.
Mulder said concussion awareness is the biggest topic of conversation when NHL team doctors get together for meetings, but that concussion studies remain an inexact science.
“I think the biggest advance has been the recognition,” Mulder said. “I think the NHL has been a leader in professional leagues in terms of concussion awareness to the players, to the doctors, to the coaches.”
Former New York Rangers goalie Mike Richter’s career came to an end in 2003 after he suffered two concussions within eight months. Richter was at McGill Friday night and praised the way the Pittsburgh Penguins have handled Sidney Crosby’s concussion issues.
“You have the best player in the world and they didn’t say: ‘Gee, we’re in a playoff hunt here. Could you get back next week?’’’ Richter said. “They said it could be a month, it could be the year, it could be next year. And it seemed like they did it the right way and took the time. And if the best player in the world can do that when you’re vying for a playoff spot, I think it speaks volumes to where we’ve come in terms of respecting this injury.”
But doctors hands are tied if players aren’t honest with them. Delaney ended his speech Friday night by saying: “We have to figure out how to change the behaviour of the athletes.”
That’s easier said than done — especially in pro sports where millions of dollars are on the line.
Everybody wants to play and stay in the lineup. They’ve got someone behind them waiting to take their place