This is Part Three of a three-part CTV News series about the effects of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
- Read Part One: A deeper dive into the impact of head injuries in sports and the possibility of CTE
- Read Part Two: Canadian researchers hope to diagnose CTE in a living person for the first time
In rinks across the country, Hockey Canada says 650,000 athletes take to the ice every year.
Like with other sports, whether team or individual, injuries happen.
“I think the sport has come a long way, not only hockey, to be very frank,” said Natasha Johnson, director of sport safety at Hockey Canada.
In some cases, stop sign stickers have been added to the back of helmets to cut down on hits from behind. Bodychecking is introduced in some divisions at age 15.
At Football Quebec, tackling starts as young as eight years old.
“We can’t say that a contact sport has zero risk,” says director general Steve Duchesneau. “A big spectacular hit where we would sometimes tackle with the head used to be a point of pride but now that’s not the case anymore.”
Quebec requires sports federations to ensure an activity can be done safely, including instituting a concussion protocol.
Duchesneau says it is strictly enforced in football.
“The youth will automatically be removed from football activities. We don’t take any chances as soon as there is a hit to the head the therapists will remove them,” he said.
The head of Alpin Quebec, the body that oversees ski-racing, says after an athlete is removed it can be the parents that are pushing for them to get back on the slopes.
“One of the main hurdles we see in safe return to sport after concussion is parents not necessarily understanding the risk of cumulative concussions,” says Jean-Francois Belisle, adding that some of the most common injuries are to the head.
“Obviously, concussions are one of the most frequent injuries that we do see as well as knee injuries and ACL.”
He adds ski racing has the added benefit of having mountain patrollers nearby and new equipment that is making its way from the professional levels into amateur.
“We’re starting to see back protectors being used by the racers and also inflatable vests that are slowly coming down to our level here. It’s been commonly used at the World Cup level,” said Belisle.
In professional football, some NFL and CFL players use helmets with padded covers called Guardian Caps for extra protection.
Sports themselves are also adapting to changing attitudes about injury and the latest science. The NHL banned hits where the head is the main point of contact and in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) only certain bodychecks are legal.
“I think we’ve noticed an evolution in the PWHL side as we have hybrid checking,” said league special adviser Cassie Campbell-Pascall. “We’re not into full body contact. We think that that’s important to keep our players safe.”
Duchesneau adds there’s been an increase in athletes turning to flag football instead of traditional football. He says that sport used to be seen as an alternative or lesser version but has exploded in popularity because it avoids major contact.
Researchers who are trying to diagnose chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in life encourage kids to play sport safely, and their work is not trying to discourage participating in physical activity.
“It’s such a huge question that people are concerned about,” says senior scientist Isabelle Boileau. “Is it possible that playing sports or having my kids playing sports put them at risk of CTE?”
The director of CAMH’s Brain Health Imaging Centre added: “There’s no science that says people should not be playing sports or kids shouldn’t be playing sports. That’s not the messaging here by any means.”
