March 20, 2018
Hockey pros and Baycrest scientist team up to discuss the effects of multiple traumatic brain injuries and the future of hockey at upcoming conference
The Rotman Research Institute will host its 28
th annual conference next week, “Traumatic Brain Injury and Concussion”, which includes a free public session, on March 20, 2018 at 4:30 p.m., featuring hockey stars Hayley Wickenheiser and Ken Dryden as well as Baycrest Health Sciences senior scientist Dr. Brian Levine and Cornell University neurologist and professional sports medical advisor Dr. Barry D. Jordan. The panel will discuss how professional sports leagues are grappling with protecting their players from long-term brain damage and what researchers know about the consequences of conditions around multiple traumatic brain injuries, such as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).
Many athletes suffering from a head injury often stay quiet and refrain from seeking medical help due to fear of it affecting their professional careers. Without a proper diagnosis and treatment, athletes will often be back in the game too soon, which can increase the risk of long-term brain damage later on.
A decade ago, Canadian hockey superstar Hayley Wickenheiser took the biggest hit of her career. Wickenheiser, a four-time Olympic gold medallist and seven-time world champion, admits she barely made it off the ice, yet she never saw a doctor, never received a professional diagnosis and spent weeks sitting in the dark and struggling to get through the day.
“It was difficult, but back then you just fought through the concussion and never talked about it,” says Wickenheiser, who announced her retirement from hockey in 2017. “Hockey is a tough guy sport and it is still not totally accepted that just because you can’t see the injury, doesn’t mean that you’re not hurt.”
Since hanging up her skates, Wickenheiser has become involved in a number of concussion initiatives. Earlier this year, it was announced she would donate her brain to science after her death. Researchers around the world are working to uncover the consequences of repeated concussions and develop treatments to aid their recovery.
“Whether intentional or accidental, minor or significant, from an elbow or from a board, the brain doesn’t distinguish the cause of a hit, it’s about the effect of a hit,” says Ken Dryden, former National Hockey League (NHL) player who won six Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens during the 1970s. “Concussions don’t just affect your ability to play the sport; they affect your entire life.”
During their talks, Hayley Wickenheiser and Ken Dryden will also reflect on their experiences with Steve Montador, a former NHL defenceman who died in 2015 at age 35 from what was later diagnosed as CTE. Montador is also the topic of Dryden’s book,
Game Change: The Life and Death of Steve Montador and the Future of Hockey.
“With increasing awareness of the effects of sports concussion, athletes and those who care for them are searching for clear guidelines, including what to expect in the short-and long-term,” says Dr. Brian Levine, senior scientist at Baycrest’s Rotman Research Institute. Dr. Levine is currently leading a
longitudinal research study tracking the brain health of retired professional ice hockey players, the first installment of which was published in
The Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry this past year.
Levine’s group found that the retired ice hockey players performed well on tests of cognitive function, but they had greater psychological and behavioral complaints than a matched comparison group. While this could be due to the effects of repeated concussion, other factors, such as the stress of athletic performance and early retirement, could have contributed to the pattern. “Our results are relevant not just for professional athletes, but also amateurs who have sustained sports concussion,” added Dr. Levine.
This public session is part of a three-day series of workshops and talks featuring world leaders in the science and treatment of traumatic brain injuries and concussions.
Media are invited to capture the public discussion and interview the panelists. Other speakers at the conference include; Dr. Adrian M. Owen from Western University who will deliver the opening keynote on assessing residual cognitive function in disorders of consciousness, Dr. Carolyn Emery from the University of Calgary who will talk about the prevention of concussions in youth sport and recreation, Dr. Ravi Menon from Western University who will talk about MRI structural and functional changes in concussed bantam hockey players’ brains persisting after they return to play, and Dr. Lili-Naz Hazrati from The Hospital for Sick Children who will speak about neuropathology of multiple concussions.
For more information on the 2018 Rotman Research Institute Conference, visit:
http://research.baycrest.org/conf2018-confprog.
About Baycrest Health Sciences
Now in its 100
th year, Baycrest Health Sciences is a global leader in geriatric residential living, healthcare, research, innovation and education, with a special focus on brain health and aging. Fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, Baycrest provides excellent care for older adults combined with an extensive clinical training program for the next generation of healthcare professionals and one of the world’s top research institutes in cognitive neuroscience, the Rotman Research Institute. Baycrest is home to the federally and provincially-funded Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation, a solution accelerator focused on driving innovation in the aging and brain health sector, and is the developer of Cogniciti – a free online memory assessment for Canadians 40+ who are concerned about their memory. Founded in 1918 as the Jewish Home for Aged, Baycrest continues to embrace the long-standing tradition of all great Jewish healthcare institutions to improve the well-being of people in their local communities and around the globe. For more information please visit:
www.baycrest.org
About Baycrest’s Rotman Research Institute
The Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Health Sciences is a premier international centre for the study of human brain function. Through generous support from private donors and funding agencies, the institute is helping to illuminate the causes of cognitive decline in seniors, identify promising approaches to treatment, and lifestyle practices that will protect brain health longer in the lifespan.
For media inquiries:
Jonathan MacIndoe
Baycrest Health Sciences
416-785-2500 ext. 6579
jmacindoe@baycrest.org
Michelle Petch Gotuzzo
Baycrest Health Sciences
416-785-2500 ext. 6932
mpetchgotuzzo@baycrest.org