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Post by mikecubs on Oct 13, 2017 21:33:26 GMT -6
Four junior hockey players diagnosed with CTE, researcher saysA researcher at Boston University says she has diagnosed chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, in the brains of four former junior hockey players. Neuropathologist Dr. Ann McKee made the diagnoses over the past two years. Each of the four former junior players – none of whom advanced to the National Hockey League – committed suicide before the age of 30, she said. Dr. McKee said she couldn’t disclose the identities of the players with CTE without the permission of their families, so it’s not known who three of the players are or which leagues they played in – which could be any of dozens of disparate calibre across North America. However, the Concussion Legacy Foundation, a Boston-based non-profit that helps to find research subjects for Dr. McKee and her colleagues, received permission from the family of former junior player Drew Mulligan to share his details. Mulligan, from Hebron, Conn., killed himself in February 2016 at the age of 22 and was posthumously diagnosed with CTE in November. He played during the 2011-12 season with the Tier III Empire Junior Hockey League’s Springfield Pics in West Springfield, Mass. The EmJHL’s teams were scattered through the northeastern U.S. and have since been absorbed into another U.S.-based league. Mulligan’s family decided to donate his brain to science a few days after he killed himself, said Karly Mulligan, Drew’s sister. “Drew was an enforcer, very protective of his teammates,” she said. “His concussions were a mixture of fighting and being checked.” Mulligan said her brother had at least six documented concussions from playing hockey. “Even if he bumped his head, his symptoms would come back,” she said. “He had really bad headaches and was very irritable. Light bugged him. Sometimes his speech would get mixed up. I noticed after his last concussion when he played with the Pics that he got a lot meaner. He picked fights over nothing and school became a lot harder for him.” “It was a no-brainer to do the testing if it might help someone else,” Karly said. “It was bittersweet to hear your brother, your best friend, had brain damage. But it was also reassuring. He told me something wasn’t right with his brain. So it was almost validation for him.” Dr. McKee said she plans to present her junior hockey findings to other researchers at the annual meeting of the American Association of Neuropathologists in June. “ We are focusing on hockey now,” Dr. McKee said in an interview with TSN. “We’re really trying to put together our experience… We’re hoping hockey is not as high a risk as football where there are more impacts every game in a more predictable fashion, but [CTE prevalence] could be just as high in hockey.”Dr. McKee has already diagnosed CTE in four former NHL players – Reggie Fleming, Rick Martin, Bob Probert and Derek Boogaard. Former NHL player Steve Montador also had CTE, according to researchers with the Canadian Sports Concussion Project in Toronto. Dr. McKee said she is currently examining the brain of another former NHL player and is a month or so away from completing that exam. CTE can only be diagnosed after death. Tyler Maland, a spokesman for the Concussion Legacy Foundation, said more than 1,700 people have pledged to donate their brains to B.U. for study of CTE, a brain-withering disease linked to repeated concussions. Of those 1,700, five are former NHL players. No current NHL player has pledged his brain. By comparison, three active NFL players and more than 100 former NFL players have pledged their brains to science, Maland said. “…To continue to play a sport like hockey or football, you have to turn a blind eye to this,” said Lisa McHale, the foundation’s director of family relations. “Willful ignorance is an easier tack to take than being concerned about CTE when you’re still making your living as a professional athlete.”www.tsn.ca/four-junior-hockey-players-diagnosed-with-cte-researcher-says-1.730445
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Post by bcmike on Oct 30, 2017 12:54:21 GMT -6
It's getting scary. You really want your child to play at a high level and do the best they can, but when you hear these stories it really makes you wonder if its all worth it.
In strictly anecdotal story My sons PeeWee team played at the Burnaby 8 rinks facility here in BC and right next to our game was a Major Midget game. Even one rink over we could hear booming hits, and I heard more than one parent say "I'm glad that's not my kid"
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Post by mikecubs on Nov 2, 2017 0:12:23 GMT -6
It's getting scary. You really want your child to play at a high level and do the best they can, but when you hear these stories it really makes you wonder if its all worth it. In strictly anecdotal story My sons PeeWee team played at the Burnaby 8 rinks facility here in BC and right next to our game was a Major Midget game. Even one rink over we could hear booming hits, and I heard more than one parent say "I'm glad that's not my kid" Thanks for the story. No it's not worth it(hockey or football). Sports aren't life and death. It's entertainment. As time passes more and more people are going to realize that. Long term kids are not going to be allowed to play contact sports. It will be considered child abuse. Contact sports will be only allowed after 18 years of age. I've said it before short of a magic CTE pill football and hockey are doomed to be a best nitch sports long term. Once they found out what boxing did to the brain it became a nitch sport/was never the same. They had a segment on Mike and Mike in the morning this week about football losing popularity. They both agreed the flag controversy will blow over long term but the head injuries won't. They talked about how now that people know about CTE people don't look at big hits as a good thing anymore. Instead you worry about what will happen to that guy and that's taken the fun out of it.
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Post by bcmike on Nov 20, 2017 13:05:42 GMT -6
I won't let my son play football until high shcool (when I'm pretty sure I'll have little say in the matter). Curiously though I know one parent that was big in the local football program, volunteer coached, and was on the executive, etc. I talked to him just recently and he's become severely disillusioned with football in general. His son is the same age as mine (11) and he said the hitting is not only scary, but the trained aggression that goes with it was having a negative impact on his boy. I'm always at odds with this in hockey. You want them to be aggressive on the ice and play right up to to the line and then you ask them calm and respectful away from the ice. Sometimes young minds can't always sort that out.
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Post by swervinmervin on Nov 21, 2017 15:05:38 GMT -6
^^^ It doesn't help when some hockey coaches for teenage kids sound like they're coaching the SC finals, and are full of four letter words. Some coaches are super, and great models for the kids, and some are just like Rodney Dangerfield on steroids with a mean streak. I wish the local minor hockey association was helpful in evaluating the coaches, and their mentoring/development aspects, but sadly, the association seemed to be run by more Rodney Dangerfields on steroids with mean streaks. In the end, it was a disappointing, bad experience for my son, even though it started out as a wonderful developmental experience in his earlier hockey years. The cream does not seem to rise to the top in minor hockey circles.
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Post by bcmike on Nov 21, 2017 18:50:50 GMT -6
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Post by mikecubs on Jan 16, 2018 17:18:48 GMT -6
Phil Bourque still ponders memory lapses, concussions and deathPhil Bourque’s symptoms haven’t changed much during the past 24 months. His concerns about the future have. It’s been two years since Bourque, a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Penguins and the team’s current radio analyst, went public with fears about memory lapses he believes are related to multiple concussions he sustained during his playing days. He was brutally candid about apprehension that his mental acuity might deteriorate faster than it does for many people as they age. Those worries remain, even though things appear to have stabilized, at least for now. In fact, they’ve compounded. “Way more,” Bourque said. “Way more.” His greatest fear is that he might be experiencing evidence of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease that afflicts people with a history of repetitive brain trauma. Memory loss is one of its primary effects, although not the one on which Bourque seems focused. “You just hear these horrible stories of players going into these downward spirals of depression,” he said. “That’s probably what really concerns me. As we get older, we all start thinking about death and we start thinking about our health and start thinking about how long we’re going to have with our kids, all that stuff. Phil Bourque on NHL's previously lax player-safety rules: 'What were you thinking?' “When I’ve had my brain rattled as much as I have, I wonder if something really bad is going to sneak up on me.” Bourque, 55, had not sought medical advice about his memory issues at the time he first publicly discussed them, but since has taken at least a few preliminary steps in that direction. “Dr. V [Dr. Dharmesh Vyas, the Penguins’ team physician] and I have talked a few times, but no more than 10 or 15 minutes, on the road, about it,” Bourque said. “He’s like, ‘Yeah, let’s get you in [for an examination/evaluation], let’s get you in.’ “I’m like, ‘Yeah, yeah, I’ll get in, I’ll get in.’ I haven’t done it, I guess probably the underlying reason for that is, what the hell can you do for me? “Are you going to crack my head open and tell me, ‘Oh, here, look, let’s fix this here.’ Do you have a magic pill that’s going to help?” That there is no such quick cure for issues caused by the repeated blows to the head so many athletes have sustained is certain; how much of Bourque’s memory problems can be attributed to his numerous concussions — several of which involved being knocked unconscious — is less clear. “I do question [the impact of] my age,” he said. “I question my lifestyle, as far as the fatigue factor of traveling so much. But even times when I’m completely rested, I do have these complete blanks.” Although hockey accounted for most of Bourque’s concussions, other incidents — like one accident while sledding as a youth in Chelmsford, Mass., and another while mountain climbing in the midst of his pro career — have added to the total. It’s not just the quantity of concussions he’s had that troubles Bourque, though. The severity of some intensifies his anxiety. “You can have a concussion and on a scale of 1 to 10, it’s a 2,” he said. “But how many of these have you had where they’re 9s and 10s? That’s where the fear factor really comes into play, when you’ve had those ones — and I’ve had them.” Bourque said his radio job “is probably the best thing for me” because of the mental challenges it presents, and that he never envisioned how things that happened decades ago could be affecting him now. “It was a cavalier attitude back then that I think a lot of athletes had,” he said. “Now that you get back to reality and live a normal life, with kids, and want to live a long time, it makes you worry. A lot.” www.post-gazette.com/sports/penguins/2018/01/11/Phil-Bourque-concussions-cte-head-injuries-stanley-cup/stories/201801100096
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Post by mikecubs on Jan 16, 2018 17:20:22 GMT -6
Research uncovers new link between head trauma, CTE, and ALSResearchers at Western University believe they have found a common link between the degenerative brain condition CTE, and a variant of ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. CTE is a fatal degenerative disease linked to repeated head blows, and is associated with contact sports such as boxing, football and hockey. Some people with the signs of CTE also show symptoms of a variant of the muscle-weakening disease ALS that causes cognitive impairment. Now, in a study published in Neurology, researchers think they may have found how the two brain diseases might be connected.The study’s lead investigator, Dr. Michael J. Strong, who is the dean of the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western, says one of the hallmarks of CTE is a buildup of clumps of a protein called tau. Tau usually props up neurons in the brain, but when it begins to form into clumps, called tau aggregates, it leads to brain cell death. “We have now shown that tau aggregates of those who have CTE and those who have this variant of ALS are the same,” Strong said in a statement Monday. Strong’s team came to their conclusion after studying brain tissue from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs-Boston University-Concussion Legacy Foundation Brain Bank. They found there was a uniquely abnormal state of tau in both those who had CTE and those with CTE and ALS. The researchers also used a rat model to demonstrate that head trauma triggers the process of tau clump formation. Dr. Strong says their research provides “a window into the pathway” by which both CTE and the ALS variant occur. He says it also offers an avenue for finding treatments to both conditions. That’s good news for Maria Baier McCauley, whose husband Chris died of ALS in August. McCauley played high-level hockey for more than a decade, first with the London Knights and the Western Mustangs, and later in professional leagues in Europe. He suffered five or six concussions along the way, so when he was diagnosed in 2015 with ALS, he wondered whether his repeated brain injuries played a role. His widow says McCauley would be glad to know that advances are being made into the understanding of ALS and brain trauma. “He would be excited to know that they are making links that that would bring them closer to a treatment, or to prevention,” Baier McCauley told CTV News. She says the Western research “points to the considerable risk to concussions, especially in younger kids” – something she says her husband worried about. “Young brains are vulnerable, and that was a big concern for Chris,” she said. She added she hopes this research helps lend support to the warnings about head blows in hockey and prompts changes to the game. www.ctvnews.ca/health/research-uncovers-new-link-between-head-trauma-cte-and-als-1.3760399#_gus&_gucid=&_gup=twitter&_gsc=2pJDrFV
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Post by mikecubs on Feb 17, 2018 1:57:25 GMT -6
Former NHL enforcer now lives in truck, faces an uncertain futureFormer NHL enforcer Stephen Peat inflicted a lot of pain throughout his career. He was good at it, and it was how he made a living. Peat went blow for blow with some of the most fearsome fighters to ever play the game. But now, with his playing days far behind him, the pain that he once handed out so abundantly to opponents, is his only to bear. Peat had three stints with the National Hockey League's Washington Capitals between 2001 and 2006. In 130 NHL games, he earned a reputation as a fighter with 234 penalty minutes, and just 10 points. No fixed address Peat now has no fixed address. He sleeps either in his vehicle in Langley, B.C., or couch surfs at the homes of friends. He's mostly estranged from his family, and said he's spent three recent nights in hospital because he hasn't been able to afford antibiotics for an infection on a wound on the back of his head — an injury he said he can't remember receiving. Peat continues to deal with the fallout from his injuries, most of which were suffered during his days in the National Hockey League and the Western Hockey League. He said he suffers from extreme headaches, memory loss and an inability to focus for long periods of time, all symptoms associated with chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE. Peat hasn't been diagnosed with the degenerative brain disease, because up until this past November, a postmortem autopsy was required to detect CTE. But a study in the journal Neurosurgery by Dr. Bennet Omalu (who was depicted by Will Smith in the movie Concussion), shows that CTE diagnoses in the living may soon be the norm. Peat in pain Calling from his truck, where he sleeps most nights, the pain in Peat's voice is visceral, and apparently, so overwhelming that the conversation often grinds to a halt. "I can't even describe [the pain] right now. My head feels like it's gonna fall off," Peat said. "But I'm doing all right. I mean what can I do? Hopefully not die." His father Walter said he believes his son has "self-medicated" with illicit drugs in the past. The younger Peat spent time at a rehabilitation centre on Vancouver Island in 2015, but said he isn't currently using drugs. Living in his truck Based on his current circumstances, Peat said it's next to impossible to secure housing. With his brain injuries, it's hard enough to make his regular probation check-ins, let alone hold down a job and pay rent. "The fact is that I can't rent a place, because I'm a convicted arsonist with no job and a disability and no way of guaranteeing that I've got rental money," he said. Peat's legal troubles go back to a March 2015 fire at his family house in Langley. He pleaded guilty to arson by negligence and was sentenced to one year of probation. He now faces three counts of breach of probation and one of uttering threats to property. One of the charges relates to contacting his father, which was forbidden in the terms of his November 2017 release. He is scheduled to appear in provincial court on those charges later this month. Getting help Peat's father has blamed the NHL for not stepping up to support his son, but the former player said the league is trying to help. He said an NHL representative has been in touch — even referring him to a neurologist in Vancouver — but keeping appointments has been challenging because of his living conditions and health challenges. Glenn Healy, a former NHL goaltender and current executive director of the NHL Alumni Association, said there are programs available for ex-players like Peat, whether they be substance rehabilitation or financial support. "It is a matter of a phone call and it is a matter of that phone call being answered within minutes. If it's a crisis situation, help is launched immediately," Healy said. "The player has to want it and we will give it." What's next? While Healy wouldn't comment specifically on Peat's situation, he acknowledged that the lives of some former players — many of them former enforcers — can be complicated by brain injuries and substance use. "It's the elephant in the room. No one wants to talk about this stuff. It's painful," he said. "I've got some of my friends and teammates that have been through this. It's tough ... but I can tell you, the programs are there." Peat said he's not interested in going to rehab. Despite the challenges that are haunting him, Peat said he was eventually able to purchase his prescription medicine and has an appointment set up with an employment counsellor. But temporary relief aside, the man who made nearly $2 million and won legions of fans during a career taking on some of the toughest fighters in hockey history faces an uncertain future with no clear path to secure housing, financial security and a clean bill of health. ca.news.yahoo.com/former-nhl-enforcer-now-lives-090000629.html
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Post by mikecubs on Mar 5, 2018 8:27:17 GMT -6
Players from NHL, junior leagues seeking brain scans without team involvementMore than 200 current and retired National Hockey League players have taken concerns about existing or potential brain injuries into their own hands by visiting a neurosurgeon in Kingston, Ont., for MRI brain scan procedures. Dr. Douglas James Cook says at least 120 former and some 80 active NHL players have undergone the scans over the past two years. He said that about 50 active players combined from the Ontario Hockey League and Western Hockey League have also been tested at Queen’s University over the same time frame. The tests have not been done with the oversight or formal participation of any of the active players’ teams, Dr. Cook said in a series of interviews with TSN. “Some guys come because teammates tell them about it,” Dr. Cook said. “Some players bring a teammate with them and then when they come for a follow-up say, ‘Can I bring these other two players with me? I think they might be interested.’” TSN could not independently corroborate the number of NHL players who have had the tests completed. Dr. Cook, who operated twice on Tragically Hip lead singer Gord Downie after his brain cancer diagnosis, said the technology used to measure the flow of blood through the brain’s millions of blood vessels is new and that his methodology for analyzing the data collected is unique. Following a brain injury, Dr. Cook said, the flow of blood can accelerate through damaged or stressed parts of the brain as the brain directs oxygen-rich blood to the affected areas. In other nearby parts of the brain, blood flow can slow if it is redirected to injured areas in need of repair. “We simplify it for players,” Dr. Cook said. “We explain that there are areas of stress in the brain after an injury and that there are changes in blood flow that we can monitor in those areas of stress.” Dr. Cook said he’s discovered blood flow abnormalities in the brains of about one-quarter of the roughly 80 active NHL players he has examined.“Unfortunately there are a number of them,” he said. “They just are not comfortable telling anyone about it.” Dr. Cook said he’s talked about his testing with some NHL team owners and is hoping to meet with the NHL Players’ Association to discuss the testing. The NHL Alumni Association has also been involved in helping to build awareness of the tests, he said. NHL Alumni Association president Glenn Healy declined to comment. “We think this is exciting but it’s also controversial,” Dr. Cook said. “From the players’ perspective, some are concerned about what we might find out, what we might see. Some people don’t even want to know what’s going on in there. They know that they have accumulated damage and don’t necessarily want to face it. And obviously there are always concerns from the owners’ side. … We worry the [NHL] perspective and perhaps the owners’ perspective is that this … is potentially damaging for the reputation of the league.” The active players who have been tested include some of the NHL’s top young stars, a source told TSN. Their identities have not been made public and Dr. Cook declined to identify any players involved in the tests, citing privacy rights.Toronto neurologist Dr. Charles Tator once taught Dr. Cook when he was in medical school at the University of Toronto and calls the 39-year-old Cook a rising star in the field of neurology. “He was very inventive when he was working in my lab. He’s smart and well trained and he’s an expert on blood flow. … He told me about this project at least a year ago. … He’s a clever guy and has attracted their [NHL players’] interest. There is word of mouth and players encouraging their colleagues to go. That’s the way it happens.” Dr. Tator said he has also examined NHL players in his Toronto office, but said he’s worked with far fewer players than Dr. Cook. “Many players are capable of independent thought and they are concerned and sometimes they are pushed into seeking other opinions from their families if their families detect some alteration in behaviour,” Dr. Tator said. “Despite the best efforts of the NHL officials to play down concerns, there is concern among players’ families. They are thinking more about it. And this is escalating as time goes on.”After finishing his residency and PhD in Toronto, Dr. Cook moved to California and worked at Stanford University, establishing himself as an expert in cerebral blood flow. In 2013 he returned to Canada and began working at Kingston General Hospital. Using the nearby Queen’s University MRI machine costs about $600 an hour, Dr. Cook said. Players are not charged for the exams. The costs are covered with funding from Queen’s and from a family foundation whose administrators want to remain anonymous. In Kingston, Dr. Cook said that the brain scans take about 45 minutes. Patients lie down inside the MRI machine and put on a facemask known as a rebreathing machine, which controls the amount of inhaled oxygen and carbon dioxide. Dr. Cook said the MRI is then able to identify areas of the brain that have been damaged. “We’re looking at the brain’s vascular physiology following injury,” Dr. Cook said. “There are patterns of impairment that are recoverable and there are patterns of impairment that set in and become more permanent. So we are using this as a technique as a way to detect concussion and also to identify the chronic syndrome that we see in older athletes as they age – issues like sclerosis, scar tissue, impaired vessel function and flow. It’s an exciting technology in a lot of ways.” Dr. Cook said he began examining patients with suspected brain injuries four years ago and has received about $1.5 million in funding so far. After researching military personnel with a grant from the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council offered funding for a study of varsity football players at Queen’s. Brain injuries and concussions are perhaps the most polarizing issue facing the NHL. On one hand, the NHL’s critics, who include nearly 200 former players who are suing the NHL, say the league has not done enough to educate and protect players from the long-term consequences of repeated head trauma. They point to NHL internal emails that show senior league officials have scorned independent medical experts who scrutinize or critique the NHL’s medical decision making.For its part, the NHL has argued that any interested players could seek out medical journals and do their own research about the impact of brain injuries. Moreover, its officials point out that the NHL was the first pro sports league in North America to introduce baseline neurological testing for its players. www.tsn.ca/players-from-nhl-junior-leagues-seeking-brain-scans-without-team-involvement-1.1014879
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Post by mikecubs on Mar 21, 2018 16:25:10 GMT -6
‘Dimmed landscape’ for NHL players after concussions, study reportsNational Hockey League players who suffer brain injuries severe enough to go through the league’s concussion protocol experience a higher rate of professional and financial instability than other NHLers, a new study claims.The study was published March 8 in The Journal of Neurotrauma and its lead authors are Prem Ramkumar, an orthopedic surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, and Sergio Navarro, a graduate medical student at Baylor University in Houston. The peer-reviewed study examined 2,194 players who played in the NHL from the 2008-09 season through 2016-17 and concluded 198, or 64.1 per cent, of the 309 players who had been through the NHL’s concussion protocol in a game during that time frame did not play in the NHL three full seasons after their injury.Two hundred and sixty-four, or 85 per cent of players, did not play in the NHL five full seasons after their trauma.“We aren’t saying we captured every concussion because not all of them are reported publicly,” Navarro said in an interview. “But we have enough to allow us to draw a line in the sand and say here are what the outcomes look like when there are concussions.” Navarro’s study determined that 309 NHL players went through concussion protocol during the nine-year time frame, including 290 skaters and 19 goalies. Of the 309 concussed players, 273 suffered one concussion and 36 players had two or more concussions during the same season. During the study's time frame, NHLers played an average of 2.1 full seasons after going through concussion protocol for the first time.Navarro said the researchers obtained data regarding player contracts, transactions, injury reports and performance stats from official NHL publications such as NHL.com, as well as from websites including prosportstransactions.com and capfriendly.com. Navarro said players who had publicly reported concussions were compared to players who didn’t. The players with concussions had a 14.6 per cent chance of playing in the NHL five years after the injury. Players who didn’t have reported concussions had a 43.7 per cent chance of being in the NHL five years later.“I think people understand that players with concussions are going to have memory issues and dementia and issues 15 to 20 years down the road,” Navarro said. “But I think it hasn't been as noticed what the shorter-term implications are.” The NHL players who did go through concussion protocol experienced a mean loss of $390,000 per year in their next contract after their injury, the study reported. “The findings in our study demonstrate a dimmed landscape for the professional NHL player after concussion, whereby an abbreviated career with shorter post‐concussion contracts may be expected, in addition to hampered on‐the‐ice performance and financial loss of more than $380,000 a year,” the study’s authors wrote. “Professional athletes may face competitive or financial pressures that preclude the self‐reporting of post‐concussed symptoms. The downstream risk of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is well described in the literature and mainstream media, but some athletes may be compelled to ‘play through the pain’ for various reasons.” In addition to some players playing through pain and not reporting their symptoms to their teams, some NHL clubs have been suspected of under-reporting concussions, raising questions about officially released concussion statistics. During an Oct. 22, 2011, game in Montreal, then-Toronto Maple Leafs goalie was injured during a collision in front of his net. The Leafs at the time called the injury a “whiplash” affecting his neck. After backup goalie called Reimer’s injury “a concussion,” coach Ron Wilson said Gustavsson was unqualified to comment on Reimer’s injury. On Nov. 9, the Toronto Star’s Dave Feschuk quoted Reimer’s mother Marlene in a story questioning why the Maple Leafs were refusing to call her son’s injury a concussion. “That’s the frustrating part for us – not knowing what it is, and why they’re not calling it a concussion when they say ‘concussion-like symptoms,” she said. “Like, how is that not a concussion?” A day later, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, deputy commissioner Bill Daly and NHL lawyer Julie Grand were included on an email chain about concussions, and about Reimer specifically. On Nov. 10, 2011, Bettman emailed Grand to ask, “How are we doing so far this season?” Grand emailed statistics that showed there had been 10 reported concussions to that point during the 2011-12 season, down from 26 from the same point the previous season. “But this doesn’t take into account the ‘under-reporting’ of concussions that Kinger [senior vice-president of hockey operations Kris King] thinks our clubs are engaged in,” Daly replied to Grand and Bettman. “BTW, has Reimer been reported as a ‘concussion’ by Toronto?” “Right point re the under reporting,” Grand wrote. “I will check re Reimer.” www.tsn.ca/dimmed-landscape-for-nhl-players-after-concussions-study-reports-1.1033626
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Post by Grumpz on Mar 21, 2018 17:07:08 GMT -6
So Laine has a 14.6% chance of playing hockey after 23? What am I missing?
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Post by mikecubs on Mar 21, 2018 17:43:31 GMT -6
So Laine has a 14.6% chance of playing hockey after 23? What am I missing? As a WHOLE players have a 14.6% chance of playing in 5 years according to the study if they had a concussion. Now obviously a young franchise player would be an outlier. It would be interesting to see the age of when each player had the concussion. For example a player was 34 when he had his concussion he'd likely be retired in 5 years even if his head was ok because of declining skills. This study don't account for that. So how much of this is just declining skills vs. guys who are f*cked up brain wise and can't play anymore because of that or their skills declined because their head is screwed up not the normal aging curve. Far from a perfect study but definitely worth pondering.
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Post by mikecubs on Apr 16, 2018 12:03:05 GMT -6
Bettman misleads on claims about CTE research, scientist saysNational Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman made misleading statements in a radio interview this week when he claimed there’s no evidence to link hockey to the brain-withering disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a Boston University researcher says. During an interview with New York station WFAN on Tuesday, Bettman claimed there are no studies to prove a link between hockey and CTE. Host Chris Carlin then asked Bettman about research conducted at Boston University, where neuropathologist Dr. Ann McKee has found CTE in the brains of five former NHL players – Reggie Fleming, Rick Martin, Bob Probert, Larry Zeidel and Derek Boogaard – as well as four former junior hockey players. “…In Boston, they will tell you that as it relates to hockey, they don't have enough evidence to reach any conclusions, and they have told me that directly,” Bettman answered. In a joint statement sent to TSN Thursday, Dr. McKee and Concussion Legacy Foundation chief executive Chris Nowinski wrote that Bettman “misstates our conversation at the meeting.” At the time of the meeting, which took place in 2012, Dr. McKee’s research team had completed the study of four former NHL players. “Three engaged in regular fights (Probert, Boogaard, Fleming), and the fourth, while not considered a fighter, had a record of 14 fights over a 14-year career (Martin),” Dr. McKee and Nowinski wrote. “CTE was first described in boxers, so it was not a surprise to diagnose CTE in [hockey] fighters. We told Mr. Bettman that with that sample, we could not conclude if the presence of CTE was most likely associated with head impact exposure from normal hockey play or fights. “However, we were clear that the evidence supported the conclusion that in those four former NHL players, their CTE was due to the head impacts they received as a hockey player who participated in fights as part of the game.” The researchers said since that meeting with the NHL six years ago, the sample size of subjects had increased. “However, it is misleading for Mr. Bettman to say we haven’t reached any conclusions. The evidence clearly supports that CTE is associated with ice hockey play. Since that 2012 meeting with Mr. Bettman, the VA-BU-CLF [Veterans Affairs-Boston University-Concussion Legacy Foundation] research team has identified CTE in more ice hockey players, including four amateur hockey players, not all of whom had significant fighting exposure. This provides evidence that normal ice hockey head impact exposure can be associated with CTE.”
Bettman has been steadfast in denying any link between hockey and CTE. Four months after a senior NFL executive testified in March 2016 that there was a link between football and degenerative brain disorders such as CTE, Bettman wrote a letter to U.S. senator Richard Blumenthal blaming the media for fanning fears about long-term brain diseases, and denying any link between CTE and hockey. “The science regarding CTE, including on the asserted ‘link’ to concussions that you reference, remains nascent, particularly with respect to what causes CTE and whether it can be diagnosed by specific clinical symptoms,” Bettman wrote in the July 22, 2016, letter. “The relationship between concussions and the asserted clinical symptoms of CTE remains unknown.” Bettman was also asked during the Tuesday radio interview about Hall of Fame member Ken Dryden’s recent criticism of the NHL. While the NHL approved Rule 48 in March 2010, which penalizes lateral, blindside hits to an opponent where the head was targeted, Dryden both in his recently published book Game Change and in an article published on The Players Tribune has criticized the NHL for its refusal to completely ban head hits in the game.
“I understand that Ken has some very strong opinions on the subject but there are lots of people who have opinions to the contrary,” Bettman said.An NHL spokesman did not respond to an email requesting comment. www.tsn.ca/bettman-misleads-on-claims-about-cte-research-scientist-says-1.1055454
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Post by mikecubs on Apr 19, 2018 15:22:10 GMT -6
Concussions May Increase the Risk for Parkinson’s DiseaseA traumatic brain injury, even a mild concussion, increases the risk for Parkinson’s disease, a new study reports. Researchers identified all patients diagnosed with T.B.I. in a Veterans Health Administration database — 162,935 men and women — and matched them with the same number of people with similar health and behavioral characteristics but who had not had a brain injury. The study is in Neurology. Of the T.B.I. cases, half were mild, involving a blow to the head with some subsequent symptoms but with little or no unconsciousness. The rest were moderate to severe, involving extended unconsciousness or long-term symptoms. After controlling for age, race, income and many medical and psychiatric diseases, they found that compared with those who had had no T.B.I., those with a mild T.B.I. had a 56 percent increased risk for Parkinson’s disease; those with moderate to severe T.B.I. had an 83 percent increased risk.“We don’t have brain autopsies, so we don’t know what the underlying biology is,” said the lead author, Dr. Raquel C. Gardner, an assistant professor of neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. “But in Parkinson’s you see abnormal protein accumulation, and there’s some evidence that T.B.I. is linked to deposits of these abnormal proteins.” In any case, she said, “This study provides the most definitive evidence that there is this association.” www.nytimes.com/2018/04/18/well/live/concussions-may-increase-the-risk-for-parkinsons-disease.html
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