Concussion prevention getting a new look.

Upon receiving my latest Hockey News magazine today, and actually having some time to read it, I came across an article talking about a new way concussions could possibly be prevented. It seems every team has been hit with the concussion curse in some way or another this season and the Pens are a major one, so the league should be looking into various ways concussions can be prevented. That includes the way the game is played with some hits as well as certain measures the players can take to protect themselves as well. An article by Ken Campbell takes a look into a new invention that may help to lessen the chance of a concussion.


One of the biggest topics this year around the league has been about concussions. They have been on a rise it seems lately and when one of the league's best players misses nearly a year of action due to a concussion, you better believe they'll be looking into ways to limit or prevent concussions.

There has been discussion about helmets with extra padding in them to help reduce concussions, but when a concussion is caused by the brain moving around in your head, unless that padding is inside the skull, there's not much that padding in the helmet can do to prevent a concussion. That is why several researchers started looking into ways to help blood flow to the skull and keep brain movement to a minimum. They came up with a collar.

"This collar pinches off the outlet vein that directs blood out of the brain, which would allow the inlet vein to fill up the extra space with blood, which would give the brain less room to slosh around" (Ken Campbell).

This collar could be designed on the current neck guard used in the NHL. While this product is still far off from being used, it does show promise in some tests. When testing using a design of the collar on rats, the results showed that the rats with the collar were 85% less likely to suffer an injury rather than the rats without a collar.

The collar may be a little tight, but if we ask the players who have missed a lengthy time of playing due to a concussion if they would have minded wearing a tighter collar if it meant that their concussion may not have happened, I believe a lot of them would not have cared that their collar was a tad tighter.

With further testing, I hope that this product continues to show great results and can one day be marketed and worn. Once that's done though, can someone create a time machine to have it complete and ready before January 1st of 2011 and make sure that Sidney Crosby wears it? I would really like to see what that season would turn out like for him, he was putting up some great numbers!

Researchers: Dr. Joseph Fisher - University of Toronto; Dr. David Smith - University of West Virginia; Dr. Julian Bailes - brain injuries expert with the NFL Players' Association.

Health is first priority.

Crosby's update yesterday should not have been a surprise to many and I know it's not the focus any longer; we have a game tonight to concentrate on, but it is good to see a player take this seriously.

I read an article on pittsburghlive.com (link above again by clicking on title of this post) that made me realize that so many players just think it is better to play through whatever injury they have. Sometimes, I think it's ok. Hockey fans know how tough hockey players are. We know that it is not unheard of for players to suffer a big gash or cut or various other injuries and come out minutes later patched up and play like it never happened. It's a part of hockey that I find admirable because it just doesn't happen that often in other sports. Though, sometimes it may be better to sit out and concussions are an injury that need to be taken seriously.

We have all heard the people saying that Crosby is being a baby, that he should just play through the headaches and that players have played through a lot worse, but as Keith Primeau points out and talks about in the article written by Josh Yohe, Crosby is doing the right thing, which is a lot tougher to do than you may think. Keith Primeau has been through this road before and ultimatley retired because of concussions. He has worked on trying to stop the high occurence of concussions ever since and he believes Crosby is being a hero for how he is handling his recovery. "The fact is, Sidney had the courage to speak up when something wasn't right. Good for him. Maybe people don't realize it, but that's a true sign of courage. It really is."

While I am done talking about Crosby's concussion because it is being discussed nonstop, I thought I would bring this article to you, my readers, to see that Crosby is doing the right thing and putting his health first now and hopefully continues to do so, as if you didn't already know that. Now, let's focus on tonight's game.

Read more: Primeau: Pens' Crosby showing true courage - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/penguins/s_771752.html#.TuexjZOhp4Z.facebook#ixzz1gSJ4TXqV

Former Pen Noah Welch will donate brain to concussion research.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=250661

That's right, you heard correctly. Former Penguins player, Noah Welch will donate his brain after his death to the new Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, a joint program between the Boston University School of Medicine and Sports Legacy Institute. The reason is for concussion studies. Noah Welch is not alone, there are 16 other athletes who will also take part. Welch, however is the only NHLer to take part. The studies are meant to inform people that concussions should not be handled lightly, possibly find ways of preventing concussions as well as discovering many other things in regards to side effects and so on.

Isn't that nice of your former Pens player to give his brain to research?