CONCUSSION

‘Our approach has changed a lot’

Concussion awareness and treatment continues to progress: Cudmore

ANTIGONISH, N.S. – A new school year is coming.

And so is the line-up of fall and winter sports; football, rugby, soccer, hockey and basketball.

There will be contact. There will be injuries. There could be concussions. "They can happen in a lot of ways - it can be a hit to the head or a fall, a whiplash sort of thing," says Tara Sutherland, the veteran head athletic therapist at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S.

"What you're looking for, the obvious would be someone lying motionless; loss of consciousness would be an obvious one. Slow to get up, inability or slow to respond to things, disorientated, confused, a blank or vacant look, certainly some sort of balance or gait walking issues like stumbling. Those are the observable things we look for and, certainly, complaining about headaches, lighthead, dizziness, balance, nausea, vomiting."

Sutherland has worked closely with

St. F.X. sports physician Dr. David Cudmore, who is well-known for his work on concussions. In 2016, he was the recipient of the

Brain Injury Canada Special Recognition Award.

Cudmore says it’s not just “athletes who have to worry about concussions.” But he adds because of more knowledge, things are improving on the recovery side.

"We've been running a concussion clinic in Antigonish for more than 10 years now, for the community. We've been involved in concussion management for 30 years at St. F.X. and it has evolved tremendously. The last 10 years, we've seen huge changes in the way it's treated and I think people do make quicker recoveries, better recoveries – our approach has changed a lot."

Just being more aware and responsive to concussions is a big part of that, says Sutherland.

"The return to play is much better. Even the last four or five years, the care has changed dramatically. We went from keeping them in a dark, dark room until they felt better and now, it's a couple of days after (the in-

jury), you need to get them back to normal. Obviously not playing a sport or any kind of contact, in any kind of danger, but one of the real tricks these days is we need to get them back to school, active, life of some sort. When we kept them in a dark room all we had was sad, depressed people," she said, referring to the varsity athletes.

As for kids and contact sports,

Cudmore says most kids play without getting a concussion and those who do, the majority are getting better in a couple of weeks.

"We try and reassure people - contact sports, if you play with good equipment, if you follow the rules, and it's well run in terms of officiating and people making sure that kids do follow the guidelines, we try and reassure them about that."