Dr. Charles Tator and colleagues from KNC's Canadian Sports Concussion Project have looked at the economic impact of brain injuries in the NHL. (Photo: UHN)
They say that heart is valued most in hockey, but they have the wrong organ.
It should be the brain.
Heart may have a great deal to do with how a hard-checking and even harder-shooting defenceman with the Nashville Predators, Shea Weber, will make $14-million (U.S.) this season, or how a driven centre, Sidney Crosby, can be paid $12-million a year to play for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
But it is the brain that costs NHL players, costs the league and insurance companies and, for that matter, costs everyone involved in future earnings in everything from contracts that injured players will never sign to endorsements they will never receive.
Charles Tator of Toronto Western Hospital is acutely aware of the physical costs of injuries to the head. The Canadian neurosurgeon is a leading international expert in concussion research and treatment, and as founder of ThinkFirst Canada and a board member of Parachute Canada, has dedicated his career to injury prevention and the healthy enjoyment of life.
This Saturday at the Krembil Neuroscience Centre at Toronto Western, Tator and two colleagues – Richard Wennberg and researcher Carmen Hiploylee – will be key presenters at the Canadian Sports Concussion Project's third annual symposium.
Read more of the Globe and Mail article.
