‘WE CAN DO SO MUCH BETTER THAN THIS’
Legion of Doom legend Lindros frustrated at slow progress in concussion research
Ask Eric Lindros how far concussion research and recognition has come since the first See The Line Community Symposium and the retired NHLer cannot help but release an audible sigh.
“There’s some frustration from this,” he said.
This isn’t Lindros being grumpy for the sake of being grumpy. Yes, concussions partly robbed the Hockey Hall of Fame centre of many productive years in the NHL. But he has made peace with that by becoming part of the solution. Thanks to Lindros, players no longer have to hide their symptoms or play through concussions.
At the same time, the 45-yearold is aware that despite all the progress that’s been made, there is much more we can learn and implement to make life safer for the next generation.
“The days of sitting alone in a dark room, unfortunately people are still speaking to that,” Lindros said. “We can do so much better than this. In terms of coming up with solutions, I don’t think we’ve come all that far from the mid-’90s. We’re so far behind. We’ve got the minds, we just need the collaboration and the centralized database that people can utilize, whether they’re in Calgary or Montreal. “The sharing needs to happen.” The sharing will happen today at the sixth annual See The Line Community Symposium on concussion research and awareness. A 10-year initiative, the focus is on educating athletes, coaches, parents and the broader community about the serious impact of concussions.
Hosted by the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University in London, this year’s symposium will feature presentations from worldrenowned concussion researchers and experts, as well as a panel discussion that includes honorary chairman Lindros, former NHL goalie Ken Dryden and others in the athletic world.
According to Lindros and Schulich dean Dr. Michael Strong, the conversation has changed in the last decade.
“The early days people even debated whether concussions even existed,” Strong said. “We saw it in boxers and assumed it was just some form of dementia. In those early days when we first started to present this, it was about trying to build connections between researchers.”
“Now, it’s really about education and awareness and how is the field moving forward.”
As an example, Strong mentioned See The Line’s logo, where the lettering of the logo gets fuzzier and harder to read as you go from “See” to “Line.” That’s meant to represent the different stages of concussion and concussion awareness.
“As you move across the line, your injury is becoming progressively worse where maybe you shouldn’t do that sport anymore because your next injury is going to become greater,” Strong said. “But the real question that’s been pushed forward this year is how do you avoid getting to the point where you don’t have to answer those questions? How do you train coaches better? How do organizations treat junior athletes better? How do you get parents to be more educated? That’s what’s really evolved.”
In March, Ontario passed Rowan’s Law, a concussion safety bill designed to protect and educate others about head injuries. Named after Ottawa’s Rowan Stringer, who died at the age of 17 from a rugby-related head injury, the law — a first of its kind in Canada — establishes protocols in regards to the removal and return of players to their respective sport following a concussion, as well as a code of conduct to minimize head injuries.
A “Rowan’s Day” to help raise awareness is planned for late September. But Lindros believes Rowan’s Law is just the beginning of what could be a nationwide initiative revolving around standardized concussion prevention, research and rehabilitation.
“Yes, the bill was passed and we have a law. But it’s one thing to have a law and another to have the law implemented,” Lindros said. “The whole idea behind Rowan’s Law is to make people aware and give them tools from which to be educated and informed . ... Let’s just start in Ontario, but it would be great if it went across the country.
“When you think of Amber Alert, you think of the missing child Amber Hagerman,” Lindros said of the Texas girl who was kidnapped and murdered in 1996. “Everyone knows what it is. I think in terms of marketing this and making sure it’s well vetted and people have confidence, it’s putting it all under the name of Rowan.”
When it comes to wanting more and refusing to settle, Lindros has found a friend in Dryden, whom he spoke with on Wednesday about the many ways in which the NHL can go further in preventing concussions.
“He’s a no-nonsense guy,” Lindros said of Dryden. “I quite admire that. He’s focused on why even would you put someone at risk of being injured in the first place? What can we do to change the rules? Change the game in a different sense?
“God forbid you change the rules, but Ken brought up a good point about how at the start of hockey there was a rule where you couldn’t pass the puck up the ice. There was no forward passing. And look at the game now. His point was great. You can make changes.”
At the very least, having past greats, such as Lindros and Dryden, involved in the conversation is causing people to stop and listen.
“If you don’t get voices like that participating in the conversation, then nobody listens,” Strong said. “You can take a group of us scientists and physicians who know what’s going on, and we can read it and communicate it, but it will be viewed as, ‘Yeah, OK, that’s what you do for a living.’
“But when you have Eric or Ken get out there and basically say, ‘Look, this is a serious problem that needs to be dealt with,’ people are more likely to sit and listen.”
The whole idea behind Rowan’s Law is to make people aware and give them tools from which to be educated and informed.
ERIC LINDROS